PIERRE — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - South Dakota), published as received.

PIERRE - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that Chief Judge Roberto A. Lange, U.S. District Court, has sentenced a Mission, South Dakota, man convicted 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. The sentencing took place on April 24, 2024.

Louis Andrew Rabbitt, Jr., age 42, was sentenced to six years and five months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $300 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

Rabbitt was indicted by a federal grand jury in October and December of 2023. He was convicted of all counts on January 25, 2024, following a three-day jury trial in federal district court in Pierre, South Dakota.   

According to evidence presented at trial, Rabbitt failed to update his sex offender registration after moving from his registered address in July of 2023. Rabbitt had continued to fail to update his sex offender registration when the U.S. Marshals Service arrived to arrest Rabbitt pursuant to an arrest warrant 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.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

Rabbitt was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.