TACOMA — A member of the Quileute Tribe has been sentenced to eight years in prison with 30 years of supervised release for abusive sexual contact, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Tyron Jackson, 30, has been in tribal, state, or federal custody since his arrest in June 2019. At Friday’s sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan said he felt it is imperative to “protect the public from any further acts of this defendant.”
According to records filed in the case, the assaults occurred against two minor victims, both of whom were under 11 years old.
One child was molested on Quileute Tribal land between 2013 and 2015; in 2018, another minor victim was sexually assaulted on Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal land, court records said.
Jackson was taken into custody in June 2019 after the two victims disclosed the abuse. Jackson pleaded guilty in September 2021, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“Sexual abuse and sexual assault against native children and women is pervasive, and continues to plague Native American tribes,” said U.S. Attorney Nick Brown in a press release.
“This case should send a message of deterrence: there will be serious consequences for the sexual abuse of Native American children.”
The assaults were investigated by the Lower Elwha Tribal Police, the La Push Police and the FBI.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rebecca Cohen, in consultation with prosecutors from the Quileute and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribes, in the Western District of Washington federal court.