GREAT FALLS — Donald Ray Gardner of Lodge Grass, who was convicted of sexually abusing two children in the 1990s on the Northern Cheyenne and the Crow Indian reservations, was sentenced in federal court in Billings on Thursday, March 31, 2022.
A federal jury in October 2021 found Gardner guilty on two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and two counts of abusive sexual contact.
In court documents and in evidence presented at trial, the government alleged that Gardner sexually abused two young girls on numerous 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 also 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.
U.S. District Judge Susan Watters sentenced Gardner, 58 years old, to 14 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Leif Johnson said in a news release.
Click here to read the trial brief court document (PDF).
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