IHS doctor lands 5 lifetimes in prison

At a U.S. Attorneys’ meeting with Acoma Indian Pueblo representatives in August, participants discussed investigation and prosecution of sex crimes perpetrated against Native American children. (Photo courtesy / U.S. Justice Department)

RAPID CITY – Former Indian Health Service pediatrician Stanley Patrick Weber will not outlive his prison sentences for multiple child sex offenses on the Pine Ridge and Blackfeet Indian reservations, a federal judge here determined on Feb. 10.
South Dakota U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Viken sentenced the 71-year-old felon to five life sentences, to be served one after another (consecutively) once Weber finishes serving an 18-year sentence meted out earlier in Montana federal court.
In a separate trial there in 2018, a jury convicted Weber of crimes stemming from his engagement in sexual acts with two boys, beginning in 1992 when he was working for Indian Health Service in Browning.
Culminating a weeklong trial under the supervision of U.S. Attorney Ron Parsons here in September, a jury unanimously convicted the defendant on five counts of aggravated sexual abuse and three counts of sexual abuse of a minor.
Evidence at trial established that Weber, while employed as a pediatrician with the Indian Health Service at Pine Ridge, sexually abused multiple Native American children between 1999 and 2011.
“The district court’s sentence ensures that Stanley Patrick Weber will never roam free again and his remaining days will be spent behind concrete and steel in a federal prison cell,” Parsons said. “Our focus today is on the courage and dignity of Weber’s victims, the men who stared down their worst nightmare to come forward and testify about the horrible abuse by him they suffered when they were boys.”
Parsons credited them further, saying, “Their bravery brought this predator to justice. They have our gratitude, and our hope is that the finality of this sentence will bring them some measure of peace. Now, as one nation, one community, and one family, we must come together and do everything in our power to ensure that nothing like this can ever be done to any of our precious children again.”
Curt L. Muller, special agent in charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which collaborated in the prosecution, declared, “As a pediatrician, Dr. Weber took advantage of Native American children enrolled with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Blackfeet Nation, and betrayed their innocent trust in him.”
The investigation was conducted by the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services, Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety, Rapid City Police Department, and the Spearfish Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah B. Collins and Eric Kelderman prosecuted.
Viken ordered Weber to pay $800,000 in criminal fines and an $800 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund, then remanded him to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Defense attorney Harvey Steinberg has appealed the Montana conviction and sentence. He could not be reached before press time regarding whether he will appeal the South Dakota verdict and penalties.
Viken’s sentence “sends a strong and powerful message that those who sexually abuse children will be held accountable and that we will continue to seek justice for all victims of our programs,” Muller said.
He vowed his agency “will continue working with our state, federal, and tribal law enforcement partners as we investigate and seek justice against those who would victimize our programs and their beneficiaries.”
A bill introduced in the South Dakota state Legislature’s current session would remove the statute of limitations on claiming civil damages for childhood sex abuse until 2022 and allow victims over 40 to enter claims against entities “other than the person who perpetrated the actual act,” such as hospitals.
HB1196 was introduced by Todd and Mellette County District 26A Rep. Shawn Bordeaux, who chairs the State-Tribal Relations Committee, and Minnehaha County District 9 Rep. Michael P. Saba.
In addition, Weber’s subjects in the South Dakota case are qualified to seek monetary reparations from the federal government, because they have the protection of the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty, according to Rapid City Indian law practitioner James D. Leach.
If they press charges within a certain timeframe specific to each one, they may have a substantial claim against the federal government for monetary compensation under the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty, he says.
Leach established that the “Bad Men Among the Whites” clause in the treaty between the U.S. government and signatories of the Great Sioux Nation means a tribal member who suffers a crime at the hands of a non-tribal member on an Indian reservation is eligible for federal reimbursement.
Found in Art. 1 of the treaty, the clause states: “If bad men among the whites, or among other people subject to the authority of the United States, shall commit any wrong upon the person or property of the Indians, the United States will, upon proof made to the agent and forwarded to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington City, proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained.”
The ruling on eligibility for compensation does not apply to the Blackfeet but to other tribes that have “Bad Men Among the Whites” language in their treaties: the Navajo, Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Ute, Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Northern Arapahoe, Shoshone, Bannock, and Apache.
Survivors of childhood sex-abuse may be leery of seeking compensation, Leach notes. “The biggest impediment is that people just don’t want to talk about it because it’s humiliating,” he says.
On the other hand, he adds, “The reason that people might want to bring a claim is because if the federal government has to pay money, it will be less likely to send out someone like Dr. Weber in the future.”
A former Indian Health Service physician in South Dakota faces federal charges that he sexually abused Native American patients.
The Associated Press reports that IHS physician Pedro Ibarra-Perocier, 58, of Wagner, was indicted by a federal grand jury Feb. 4 on four counts of sexual abuse and four counts of abusive sexual contact involving his patients, according to Parsons. Ibarra-Perocier pleaded not guilty.
An abused party or a guardian can discuss a potential case with a lawyer in confidentiality before deciding whether to proceed with a claim.