Peter Awonohopay, Sexual Abuse of Minors, Wisconsin 2020
A 37-year-old Neopit man has been sentenced to 180 months in prison for separate sex crimes against a child and an adult woman on the Menominee Indian Reservation.
Peter Awonohopay was convicted of abusive sexual contact and sexual abuse of a child in two separate cases. The crimes took place in 2019 and 2018.
According to court documents, Awonohopay had nonconsensual sexual contact with an adult female at her residence in Keshena on June 17, 2019. The defendant admitted to investigators that he entered the woman’s house without her knowledge and attempted to have sexual intercourse with her while she slept.
In the second case, Awonohopay engaged in a sex act with a girl who was between 12 and 16 years of age. This abuse occurred in 2018 at the defendant’s residence in Neopit. Awonohopay admitted engaging in sex acts with the child in June 2018.
Awonohopay pleaded guilty to the charges on February 12, 2020. On September 8, 2020, Senior United States District Judge William C. Griesbach sentenced the defendant to 24 months for abusive sexual contact and 156 months for sexual abuse of a child.
The total sentence of 180 months will be served consecutively, followed by the remainder of his life on supervised release. Judge Griesbach recognized the courage of the victims for coming forward and reporting the crimes against them, which enabled the government to bring charges, and the court to impose a sentence designed to protect other children from the defendant.
The Menominee Tribal Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew J. Maier.
Key Facts
- State: Wisconsin
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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