{"id":59212,"date":"2026-10-21T06:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T11:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=59212"},"modified":"2026-10-21T06:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T11:24:09","slug":"cassandra-santos-faces-federal-assault-neglect-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/cassandra-santos-faces-federal-assault-neglect-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Cassandra Santos Faces Federal Assault, Neglect Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cassandra Santos Faces Federal Assault, Neglect Charges<\/h2>\n

SPIRIT LAKE RESERVATION, ND (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>)<\/strong> \u2013 A 37-year-old woman is facing federal criminal charges after investigators allege she struck a young child with her vehicle during a reservation gathering and, in separate incidents, neglected her own children while under the influence of alcohol.<\/p>\n

Cassandra Santos, 37,<\/strong> is charged in U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota with one count of assault resulting in substantial bodily injury and three counts of child neglect in Indian country.<\/p>\n

According to an FBI affidavit, the allegations involve three separate incidents between July and September 2026 on the Spirit Lake Reservation.<\/p>\n

Young Child Injured at Crow Hill Recreation Center<\/h2>\n

The first incident occurred July 6, 2026, at the Crow Hill Recreation Center during a prayer service.<\/p>\n

According to the federal affidavit, Santos was backing her vehicle out of a parking space when she struck a young child born in 2025.<\/p>\n

The child suffered serious injuries and was transported by air ambulance to a hospital in Fargo.<\/p>\n

Medical records cited in the affidavit identified a closed fracture of the child’s right femur, a crush injury, and abrasions to the leg and foot.<\/p>\n

Multiple witnesses, including relatives, reportedly told investigators they observed Santos drinking alcohol before the incident.<\/p>\n

According to the affidavit, Santos initially provided inconsistent accounts of her alcohol consumption that day.<\/p>\n

Santos told investigators that striking the child was not intentional.<\/p>\n

\"Cassandra<\/a>
Cassandra Santos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Child Found Walking Alone in August<\/h2>\n

A second incident was reported August 7, 2026, when a bystander discovered one of Santos’ children walking alone on a road without shoes.<\/p>\n

According to the affidavit, the child said Santos had left him with a babysitter the previous evening and had not returned.<\/p>\n

A social services employee subsequently located Santos and reported that she appeared to be under the influence.<\/p>\n

Santos reportedly maintained that her children were safe.<\/p>\n

Children Found Unsupervised During September Incident<\/h2>\n

The third incident occurred September 11, 2026, when tribal police responded to a report of a possibly intoxicated woman driving with children in her vehicle.<\/p>\n

According to the affidavit, officers located two of Santos’ children outside a parked vehicle without adult supervision.<\/p>\n

Officers found Santos inside and described her as uncooperative during the encounter.<\/p>\n

A breath test reportedly indicated an alcohol concentration of 0.196, more than twice North Dakota’s standard legal driving limit of 0.08.<\/p>\n

The supplied federal complaint information does not identify a separate impaired-driving charge arising from that incident.<\/p>\n

Federal Assault and Child Neglect Charges<\/h2>\n

Federal prosecutors have charged Santos with assault resulting in substantial bodily injury and three counts of child neglect in Indian country.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, the assault charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.<\/p>\n

Each child neglect count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.<\/p>\n

These are potential statutory maximum penalties, not sentences imposed in the case.<\/p>\n

Spirit Lake Tribal and Federal Proceedings<\/h2>\n

Court records indicate that Santos has also submitted to the jurisdiction of Spirit Lake Tribal Court in connection with related tribal charges.<\/p>\n

According to the affidavit, Santos identified herself as an enrolled member of the Little Shell Tribe.<\/p>\n

The federal complaint places the alleged offenses within Indian country, providing the jurisdictional context for the federal prosecution.<\/p>\n

Santos is being held at the Grand Forks County Jail, according to the information provided.<\/p>\n

No federal trial date, bail determination, or final disposition was included in the available report.<\/p>\n

The charges are allegations. Santos is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cassandra Santos, 37, faces federal assault and child neglect charges tied to three incidents on North Dakota’s Spirit Lake Reservation in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[27915,27916,27920,27921,7756,27919,27896,27918,903,27885,27917,2419,27922,786],"class_list":["post-59212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-cassandra-santos","tag-cassandra-santos-federal-charges","tag-child-struck-by-vehicle","tag-crow-hill-recreation-center","tag-fbi-investigation","tag-federal-assault-charges","tag-grand-forks-county-jail","tag-north-dakota-child-neglect","tag-north-dakota-crime-news","tag-ramsey-county-north-dakota","tag-spirit-lake-child-injury","tag-spirit-lake-reservation","tag-spirit-lake-tribal-court","tag-trf-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59212"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59307,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59212\/revisions\/59307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}