A Wyoming federal judge has sentenced a Fort Washakie, Wyoming, man to 10 years in prison for hurling a screwdriver at a child and committing other acts of abuse.
Denver Lee John Sr., 44, has been convicted for abusing his children and the stepchildren he shared with his now-ex-wife over several years, the U.S. Attorney’s office announced Monday in a statement.
Court documents dated the incidents in separate stretches from 2012 to about 2022.
He punched the kids, pulled their hair, threw them against the wall and threw a screwdriver so hard at one child that it lodged in the child’s head, says the statement. He hit another so hard the child could not sit for days, and severely burned a child’s hand by holding it on a stovetop burner.
U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson, of Wyoming, sentenced John to 10 years in prison Aug. 21.
“John also threatened to separate a child from the family if that child told anyone what John was doing,” the statement adds.
The FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs investigated the crimes, says the statement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kerry J. Jacobson prosecuted the case.
Jacobson used a provision of federal law applying state law to defendants in Indian Country to charge John.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
