RIVERTON — Four Fremont County residents were sentenced in federal court last week for kidnapping, along with aiding and abetting, on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
Ashley Rose Yellowbear, 28, Kristen Jade Antelope, 27, Rusty Tso Tabaho, 28, and Samuel Harold Friday, 38, received differing sentences based on their roles in the crime, varying from 114 to 160 months in prison.
They were sentenced by Chief US Wyoming District Court Judge Scott W. Skavdahl.
Each is from either the reservation or Riverton.
The sentences were in connection with an incident in which the co-defendants confined two victims in Yellowbear’s Ford Expedition on Jan. 1 by cuffing their wrists using handcuffs and plastic zip-ties and activating child locks on the Expedition’s doors and windows.
The victims were held for several hours, during which time they were repeatedly assaulted with fists, were struck in the head with a tire iron, strangled and kicked. The victims eventually were taken out of Yellowbear’s Expedition, thrown to the ground, kicked and left at an abandoned house in the St. Stephen’s area. One victim was able to run for help but could not direct law enforcement to where the second victim had been left unconscious. The second victim regained consciousness and crawled into the abandoned house in an attempt to find shelter, as temperatures were at or near freezing at the time.
The motive for the kidnapping and assaults was a series of text messages that angered Yellowbear. All co-defendants were arrested on the Wind River Reservation, then charged March 18. The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this case with assistance from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
“The violence in this case is disturbing and unacceptable,” said US Attorney Mark Klaassen. “The victims were bound at the wrists, beaten, threatened, and held captive for hours at the hands of the defendants. This prosecution makes clear that such actions will not be tolerated, and affirms our commitment to reduce violent crime in Indian County and across Wyoming.”
Yellowbear was sentenced to 135 months in prison; Antelope was sentenced to 124 months; Tabaho was sentenced to 114 months in prison, and Friday was sentenced to 160 months.
All co-defendants’ prison sentences are to be followed by five years of supervised release. They were ordered to pay restitution jointly and severally in the amount of $4,408.69, with the possibility of additional restitution being added on or before January 9, 2021. Each codefendant must pay a $100.00 special assessment.
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