- Details
- By Native News Online Staff
WASHINGTON — Overnight outgoing President Donald Trump issued a pardon to his former aide Steven Bannon. Additionally, Trump issued dozens of other pardons to individuals with lower public profiles. Among the list of individuals pardoned overnight by Trump is LaVonne Roach, a tribal citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, who has been incarcerated since 1997 for a non-violent drug charge.
Roach, 56, who was convicted of a Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine charge in 1997 by a South Dakota jury and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Roach admits she was a drug addict and dealer, who became romantically involved with a drug kingpin.
She was scheduled to be released on July 14, 2023.
“I am responsible for not only hurting my family but my community with the poison I distributed,” Roach told Truthout in Dec. 2016.
Roach has been considered a model inmate. While incarcerated, Roach completed a non-residential drug program. Additionally, she completed two-year paralegal courses and has taught GED courses to other inmates.
Since being incarcerated, Roach’s father and mother passed away. She has three children and several grandchildren.
More Stories Like This
EXCLUSIVE: Deb Haaland Q&A on Road to Healing Tour ProgressSeptember 20 is National Voter Registration Day: Native Organizations Team Up to Increase Native Youth Voter Engagement
Tribal Business News Round-Up: Sept. 19
Native American Election Forum in Atlanta to Attract Sen. Raphael Warnock & Stacey Abrams
WATCH: Native Bidaské with Four Directions' OJ Seamans, Sr. on the Native Vote
Do you appreciate a Native perspective on the news?
For the past decade-plus, we’ve covered the important Indigenous stories that are often overlooked by other media. From the protests at Standing Rock and the toppling of colonizer statues during the racial equity protests, to the ongoing epidemic of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) and the past-due reckoning related to assimilation, cultural genocide and Indian Boarding Schools, we have been there to provide a Native perspective and elevate Native voices.
Our news is free for everyone to read, but it is not free to produce. That’s why we’re asking you to make a donation this month to help support our efforts. Any contribution — big or small — helps us remain a force for change in Indian Country and continue telling the stories that are so often ignored, erased or overlooked. Most often, our donors make a one-time gift of $20 or more, while many choose to make a recurring monthly donation of $5 or $10. Whatever you can do, it helps fund our Indigenous-led newsroom and our ability to cover Native news.
Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous journalism. Thank you.
