Authorities say a woman on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation used a rock to assault and maim five people, including three who lost fingers, in a scheme to obtain painkillers for herself.
The Rapid City Journal reports 40-year-old Frenchone One Horn, also known as Frenchone Kills in Water, pleaded not guilty to assault and other charges on Dec. 2.
One Horn is charged with four counts of maiming for allegedly torturing three of the five victims who had fingers amputated. One of the victims had two fingers amputated on two different dates in October 2019, an indictment says. It’s unclear if the victims lost their fingers during the assaults or if a doctor had to amputate them due to the damage.
She also is charged with health care fraud for allegedly making false statements about the five people’s injuries in order to obtain opioids to treat pain.
The fraud charges allegedly occurred between September 2018 and January 2020.
The 14 assault-related charges each carry a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison while the four maiming charges each carry a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison. The health care fraud charge has a maximum punishment of five years in prison while the controlled substance one has a maximum punishment of four years in prison.
A trial is set for Feb. 9.