Rapid City Man Sentenced to Time Served for False Statement

RAPID CITY - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Camela C. Theeler sentenced a Rapid City, South Dakota, man convicted of False Statement. The sentencing took place on April 25, 2025.

Marino Waters, age 32, was sentenced to time already served, five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

Waters was indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2024. He pleaded guilty on January 17, 2025.

On the early morning of September 15, 2022, a male drove his partially clothed girlfriend to the Indian Health Services (IHS) hospital on the Pine Ridge Reservation and dropped her off at the Emergency Department. The male did not provide his identity nor the female's identity. The male told medical personnel that a firearm went off while they were engaged in intimate relations and that she had been shot accidentally.

Law enforcement identified and located the male at his residence several hours later. The male was cleaning the crime scene and sent text messages to the female claiming the shooting was an accident. A search of the residence was conducted. Law enforcement was unable to locate the handgun that the male claimed was used in the shooting. The male was arrested and eventually charged with second degree murder, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. A digital surveillance system that recorded traffic to the male's house was seized by law enforcement.

After reviewing the footage, law enforcement identified a vehicle that appeared at the male's residence shortly after midnight and just before the female was brought to IHS. After several months, law enforcement was able to identify the driver of the vehicle as Marino Waters, and the passenger as Clayton Fire Thunder. The investigation revealed that Waters drove Fire Thunder to the male's residence just east of Pine Ridge two times on the morning of September 15, 2022. Fire Thunder intended on selling a firearm to the male in exchange for cash and/or methamphetamine. The male did not answer the door when Fire Thunder knocked, and unexpectedly, Fire Thunder discharged one round from the firearm into the residence. The round ended up penetrating the siding, backboard, and drywall of the residence and struck and killed the male's girlfriend, a 27- year-old female.

When Waters was interviewed by the FBI in March of 2023, he gave a false statement and said that neither he nor Fire Thunder had a firearm when the shooting occurred when he knew that Fire Thunder did in fact possess one at the time. Fire Thunder was tried for the death of the female in January 2025. The jury found Fire Thunder guilty of the shooting death of the 27-year-old female.

This matter was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office because the Major Crimes Act, a federal statute, mandates that certain violent crimes alleged to have occurred in Indian country be prosecuted in Federal court as opposed to State court.

This case was investigated by the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Poppen prosecuted the case.

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