Man sentenced for 2013 aggravated sexual abuse of 6-year-old in Whatcom County
A 57-year-old man was sentenced Friday, June 10, in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 30 years in prison for the 2013 aggravated sexual abuse of a 6-year-old girl on the Lummi Nation Reservation in Whatcom County.
The 30-year sentence for Lewis Dean Armstrong represented the mandatory minimum for the offense, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release, which added that Lewis will face a lifetime term of supervised release following prison and be required to register as a sex offender.
Armstrong was convicted in March 2014 of aggravated sexual abuse of a child after DNA evidence linked him to the sexual assault of a 6-year-old child that was visiting family in March 2013 on the Lummi Reservation, according to the release.
Following Armstrong’s conviction, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour sentenced Armstrong to 20 years in prison, ruling that the 30-year mandatory minimum sentence was unconstitutional as applied to Armstrong, the release states.
But on March 3, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Armstrong’s conviction and reversed the 20-year sentence, sending the case back for resentencing, according to the release, which added the U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones imposed the 30-year sentence on Friday.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the Lummi Nation Police Department.
