Lodge Grass man sentenced to 14 years in prison for sexually abusing children on the Northern Cheyenne and Crow Indian reservations

BILLINGS  — A Lodge Grass man who was convicted by a jury of sexually abusing two children in the 1990s on the Northern Cheyenne and the Crow Indian reservations was sentenced today to 14 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson said.

A federal jury in October 2021 found Donald Ray Gardner, 58, guilty on two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and two counts of abusive sexual contact.

U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided.

In court documents and in evidence presented at trial, the government alleged that Gardner sexually abused two young girls over multiple occasions. Gardner engaged in a sexual act and in sexual contact with a victim, identified as Jane Doe 1, in 1994 in Lame Deer, on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. The government further alleged Gardner engaged in a sexual act and in sexual contact with another victim, identified as Jane Doe 2, in the Crow Agency area on the Crow Reservation in 1996 and in 1998. Both victims were under the age of 12 at the time.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lori Harper Suek prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI.

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