A 42-year-old man from Mission, South Dakota, has been sentenced to six years and five months in federal prison for failing to register as a sex offender, assaulting and resisting federal officers, and committing a crime of violence while failing to register.

Chief Judge Roberto A. Lange ordered Louis Andrew Rabbitt, Jr. to pay a $300 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in addition to his prison sentence and supervised release.

Rabbitt, 42, was convicted on January 25, 2024, after a three-day jury trial in federal district court in Pierre, South Dakota, on charges of Failure to Register as a Sex Offender, Assaulting, Resisting, and Impeding a Federal Officer with a Dangerous Weapon, and Commission of a Crime of Violence while Failing to Register as a Sex Offender.

According to evidence presented at trial, Rabbitt failed to update his sex offender registration after moving from his registered address in July of 2023. He continued to fail to update his registration when the U.S. Marshals Service arrived to arrest him on September 20, 2023. In an effort to avoid arrest, Rabbitt threatened Deputy U.S. Marshals with a baseball bat before being apprehended.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service with the assistance of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement Services. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Wayne Venhuizen and Meghan Dilges prosecuted the case.

Rabbitt was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

This case marks another success for law enforcement agencies working together to protect the public and hold accountable those who fail to comply with sex offender registration requirements.

The U.S. Department of Justice will continue to prioritize cases like this one, seeking justice for victims and keeping communities safe from those who pose a threat to public safety.

The investigation and prosecution of this case was a collaborative effort between the U.S. Marshals Service and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement Services.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Wayne Venhuizen and Meghan Dilges prosecuted the case with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Dakota.