Calvin Keith Delorme, Belcourt, was sentenced on Monday in U.S. District Court to 30 years in prison for aggravated sexual abuse of a child. Delorme will also be on supervised release for life.

A 30-year sentence is the minimum mandatory allowed for such a charge in federal court.

He was sentenced by Judge James Moody.

According to court documents, Delorme sexually abused a girl when she was under the age of 12 at some point between December 2011 and March 2014. Delorme was found guilty of the charge at trial in March.

In a memorandum filed with the court prior to the sentencing, Delorme’s lawyer, Ashley Heitkamp, wrote that a second charge was dismissed during the trial because the allegations were unsubstantiated.

Heitkamp also noted the stark differences in sentencing in state and federal court for such crimes.

“If Calvin were white and lived 60 miles in any direction he would have been charged in North Dakota District Court,” wrote the defense attorney. “As a first-time offender, it is hard to imagine a sentence as harsh as the mandatory sentence in this case. Instead, because Calvin was born on the reservation, and like most North Dakotans, chose to live near his extended family, he is facing a sentence that is three times harsher simply because he is native.”

American Indians who are charged with felonies are tried in federal court, which often has far more stringent penalties for offenses than are meted out by state courts.

Heitkamp also noted that there had been no other abuse allegations made against Delorme in the five years since the incident occurred. While the FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs were aware of the allegations in the case, authorities left Delorme’s own children in his home without services.

No one stepped in when the mother of the victim and the victim continued to have close contact with Delorme after the allegations were made, according to Heitkamp.

Heitkamp further noted that the mandatory sentence will prevent Delorme from providing for his wife and his four young children.

Delorme will appeal the criminal judgment to the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.