A sign at the offices of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. Photo from USGS / Flickr
A young South Dakota man was sentenced to eight months and ordered to pay $500 in restitution for stealing a ceremonial pipe that belonged to the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. James Short Bear, 19, pleaded guilty to larceny. He admitted that he broke into the tribe's administration building and stole the chanunpa in February 2014. Short Bear later pawned the chanunpa for $500, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. He claimed he had made the pipe. Short Bear's punishment will run concurrently with sentences imposed in three other of his criminal cases. In November 2014, he was sentenced to 15 months for burglarizing a U.S. Postal Service office on the Lower Brule Sioux Reservation in April 2014 and for burglarizing the housing authority of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in March 2014. Short Bear was also punished under state law for the theft from the post office. Short Bear is a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, The Lakota Country Times reported in 2010. Get the Story:
Chamberlain Man Sentenced in Federal Court for Larceny (DRG News 5/12)
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