Department of Justice

United States Attorney Dennis R. Holmes announced that a Rapid City, South Dakota, man convicted of two counts of Possession of a Firearm by a Prohibited Person and one count of Possession of an Unregistered Firearm was sentenced on March 7, 2022, by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Viken.

Eric Ladeaux, age 35, was sentenced to three seven-year terms in federal prison, to run concurrently. Ladeaux was also sentenced to three three-year terms of supervised release, to run concurrently, and ordered to pay a $300 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

Ladeaux, a person who is prohibited from possessing firearms, was arrested and federally indicted after he came into contact with Pennington County Sheriff’s Office deputies in December 2019, and Rapid City Police Department officers in September 2020, and was found to be in possession of firearms. Ladeaux was also found to be in possession of an unregistered firearm during the September 2020 stop.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, and the Rapid City Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Kelderman prosecuted the case.

Ladeaux was immediately turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.