Oglala man sentenced for strangling a teenage girl and failing to register as a sex offender

RAPID CITY, S.D. - A 37-year-old Oglala man has been sentenced to nearly 10 years in federal prison for strangling a teenage girl and failing to register as a sex offender.

Aric Singing Goose, also known as Eric Sharpfish, pleaded guilty in April to assault by strangulation and failure to register as a sex offender. He was sentenced this month in federal court.

According to court documents, on Oct. 31, 2023, Singing Goose was drinking with a 16-year-old girl in Oglala when a verbal argument escalated into physical violence. He took the teen to a location near the Oglala Dam, threw her to the ground, climbed on top of her, and placed his hands around her neck. Authorities say the girl lost consciousness and later regained it. DNA left on the victim’s neck linked Singing Goose to the assault.

Singing Goose is required to register as a sex offender following a 2009 federal conviction in South Dakota for two counts of sexual abuse of a minor. Prosecutors said he knowingly failed to update his registration information with the Oglala Sioux Tribe Sex Offender Compliance Office in July 2023, despite living in Oglala on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

He was indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2023.

The U.S. Marshals Service and the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety investigated the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted it under the Major Crimes Act, which requires certain violent crimes committed in Indian Country to be tried in federal court.