Man Sentenced to 28 Years in Prison for Sexual Assault on Grounds of Gateway Arch National Park

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Friday sentenced a man to 28 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman in Gateway Arch National Park in 2023.

Judge Clark ordered the sentence to run consecutive to the 84 months Monte Derrell Boatman, 37, is currently serving for violating his supervised release in a 2009 armed robbery case.

On Dec. 6, 2023, Boatman, of Fairview Heights, Ill., arrived at the Laclede's Landing MetroLink station at about 5:15 p.m. He was captured on video passing the victim near 4th Street and Washington Avenue at about 5:19 p.m. Roughly one minute later, Boatman turned and began following the victim.

At about 5:30 p.m., Boatman grabbed the victim from behind, wrapped his arms around her and forced her into the bushes with a razor to her neck. Boatman assaulted the victim while threatening her life multiple times.

Boatman was arrested two days later by rangers with the National Park Service after a struggle that resulted in one ranger needing medical treatment.

Boatman pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in May of 2025 to one felony count of aggravated sexual abuse.

In court Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson said Boatman's 2023 crime followed a "largely unabated history of criminality since the age of 13."

Included in that history is the 2009 robbery case in the Southern District of Illinois. Boatman and others robbed a drug dealer, which sparked a vehicle chase and multistate gun battle with the dealer. He was sentenced in 2010 to 171 months in prison.

The case was investigated by the National Park Service and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, with assistance from the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.