Little Eagle Man Sentenced to Over Four Years in Federal Prison for Assault of an Intimate Partner by Strangulation and Suffocation

ABERDEEN - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Charles B. Kornmann has sentenced a Little Eagle, South Dakota, man convicted of Assault of an Intimate Partner by Strangulation and Suffocation. The sentencing took place on August 19, 2024.

Lance Tomas Mata, age 41, was sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $100.

Mata was indicted by a federal grand jury in January of 2023. He pleaded guilty on May 20, 2024.

During the night of November 21-22, 2022, at his home in Little Eagle, within the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation, Mata got high and intoxicated on methamphetamine and alcohol. Around 7:30 a.m., he woke up his live-in girlfriend and dragged her by the hair across the floor, then choked her for 30 seconds, telling her she would die “today” and that no one wanted her. After throwing her over a couch, Mata coerced her to kneel before him in a degrading manner and began assaulting her with his fists. Whenever the victim fell, Mata forced her to get back on her knees. If his girlfriend whimpered, Mata threatened to throw her down the stairs and chain her in the basement. This torture continued for two hours. When Mata finished, he told his girlfriend he would bury her with another woman, then fell asleep on the couch. The girlfriend fled the home and began walking the 37-mile trek through the snow to her mother’s home in Fort Yates, North Dakota, until she was picked up by a friend.

This matter was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office because the Major Crimes Act, a federal statute, mandates that certain violent crimes alleged to have occurred in Indian country be prosecuted in Federal court as opposed to State court.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs – Office of Justice Services.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl Thunem prosecuted the case.

Mata was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service