Baptist Minister on Northern Cheyenne Reservation found guilty of sexual abuse
LAME DEER, Mont. – Many people on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, breathed a collective sigh of relief on December 13 when former Pastor, Dean Smith, First Baptist Church in Lame Deer was found guilty in federal court of sexually abusing several young Cheyenne girls who were in his care.
The entire Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council attended those proceedings. Though they did not testify, it was mute statement that this type of behavior will no longer be tolerated on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation.
After a six-day trial, in part due to a hung jury, Smith was found guilty of the following charges: aggravated sexual abuse; abusive sexual contact by force and two counts of sexual by force of a child.
One additional and similar charge was dropped.
He will not be sentenced until April 10, 2024. In the meantime, he is remanded to custody, cooling his jets probably in the Yellowstone County Jail, where child molesters are among the lowest of the low, often kept in protective situations to keep other inmates from harming them.
Smith faces a maximum penalty of life in prison, a $250,000 fine or in a more lenient situation might face five years of supervised release. If so, he will not do that time on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, banned by Tribal Council action.
“Pastor” Dean Smith and his wife came to the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in 2010, where he established the First Baptist Church. Little did the Northern Cheyenne know he had no seminary training He quickly developed a following by leading prayer walks, donating a building for the first version of the community thrift store; hosting weekly AA meetings and he and his wife became foster parents, even giving refuge to the homeless. His wife, who is not implicated in the crimes, started a successful catering business, building birthday cakes right and left.
Yet, in the meantime, Pastor Dean apparently was a spider weaving its web. Spider people is the Cheyenne word for “white” people.
As the prosecutor summed up: Pastor Dean Smith led a double life – a loving Pastor on one hand and a sexual abuser of young children on the other.”
(Clara Caufield can be reached at 2ndcheyennevoice@gmail.com)
The post Baptist Minister on Northern Cheyenne Reservation found guilty of sexual abuse first appeared on Native Sun News Today.
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January 3, 2024