PINE RIDGE, S.D. - A 24-year old Rapid City man has been sentenced to nine months in federal prison for repeatedly assaulting an intimate partner on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Jared Red Cloud was convicted of two counts of Assault Resulting in Substantial Bodily Injury to an Intimate Partner. 

The conviction stems from a years-long pattern of violence by Red Cloud against his child’s mother.  Law enforcement learned Red Cloud had beaten the victim in 2021 and 2024, bruising her face and body. The district court denied Red Cloud’s request for probation or time served, citing the ongoing pattern of abuse in the relationship as a key factor in its decision.

Due to the high rates of domestic violence in the area, the Pine Ridge Reservation was named one of 78 communities across 47 states to receive targeted federal support under Section 1103 of the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022. Through this initiative, the U.S. Department of Justice—working with United States Attorney’s Offices and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—will partner with each community to reduce intimate partner firearm violence and prioritize prosecution of offenders barred from possessing firearms under federal law.

In a statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Dakota emphasized the broader definition of domestic violence, which includes physical, emotional, sexual, psychological, economic, and technological abuse. It also includes coercive behaviors meant to control, intimidate, or isolate a partner.

Red Cloud was indicted by a federal grand jury in Aug. 2024 on charges of Assault Resulting in Substantial Bodily Injury to an Intimate Partner and Assault by Strangulation and Suffocation. He pleaded guilty on Jan. 21, 2025.