A Pine Ridge Reservation man is scheduled for trial in federal court on June 13 on charges of Enticement of a Minor, Sexual Abuse of a Minor, and Possession of Child Pornography.
      35-year old Rowland Coomes of Pine Ridge pled Not Guilty last week after having been indicted by a federal grand jury in February. Coomes has been remanded to the custody of the U-S Marshals Service.
U-S Attorney for South Dakota Allison Ramsdell says an investigation by the FBI resulted in the charges.
In the Enticement case, Coomes is accused of using his cell phone in Nov 201 to try to persuade an under-age girl to engage in sexual activity with him, while the Child Porn count is for having explicit images of children on his Facebook account.
The Sexual Abuse of a Minor charge covers incidents between March 2021 and Nov 2022 in Pine Ridge in which Coomes allegedly engage in and attempted to engage in sexual acts with a girl between 12 and 16.
The maximum penalty for each charge is a mandatory minimum of 10 years to life in prison plus a $250,000 in fines and a mandatory minimum of 5 years to life of supervised release. Restitution could also be ordered.
Why can the Coomes stay out of trouble?