I.H.S. officials and tribal leaders cover-up sexual misconduct for decades
By Ernestine Chasing Hawk
Native Sun News Today
Managing Editor
nativesunnews.today PINE RIDGE –– A former Indian Health Service pediatrician stationed at the Pine Ridge Service Unit was formally charged with sexual abuse crimes against a minor. Patrick Stanley Weber, 68, appeared in U.S. District Court March 1, charged with five counts of aggravated sexual abuse, one count of sexual abuse, and four counts of sexual abuse of a minor. The ten charges against Weber involve three victims younger than 12; and six victims between 12 and 16. The alleged incidents took place between May 1998 and April 2003. Weber who now resides in Spearfish pled not guilty and was released wearing an ankle monitor pending his May 9 trial. According to a December 8, 2016 investigative article published in Medium by journalist Joe Flood, OST Attorney General Tatewin Means spoke about the investigation into allegations against Weber. “When I was first appointed as attorney general [in 2012], a community member came to me with this issue and asked for me to look into it,” Means reported to Flood. “My initial investigation was brief because I did consult with federal partners, and it seemed like it had been dismissed, that there was nothing to the allegations, based on what those federal partners said.” According to Flood, Means turned the investigation of allegations of criminal misconduct by Weber over to a prosecutor on her staff, Elaine Yellow Horse.
Read the rest of the story on the Native Sun News Today website: Former doctor charged in sexual abuse scandal (Contact Ernestine Chasing Hawk at executiveeditor@ nativesunnews.today) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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