Porcupine man sentenced for assaulting juvenile with vacuum handle

PORCUPINE, S.D. — A 25-year-old Porcupine man has been sentenced to just over a year in federal prison for assaulting a juvenile with a vacuum handle.

Elijah Keith Battese pleaded guilty in May to assault with a dangerous weapon, after being indicted on two counts by a federal grand jury in January.

Prosecutors said that on Sept. 27, 2024, Battese struck the victim with a vacuum handle on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The juvenile suffered a 1.4-inch laceration near his right ear that required 11 stitches.

The case was prosecuted in federal court under the Major Crimes Act, which requires certain violent crimes in Indian Country to be handled at the federal level. The Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Schroeder served as prosecutor.