Man sentenced to three years for molesting foster child

A Fort Belknap man received an almost-eight year sentence including 34 months in federal prison for sexually assaulting a young high-school aged girl in his care.

Robert James Schaeffer, 49, pleaded guilty in October to sexual abuse of a minor.

Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris in federal District Court in Great Falls sentenced Schaeffer to the prison term and to five years of supervised release.

According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Schaeffer was charged after the girl, who lived with Schaeffer as a foster child on Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, said that on July 4, 2008, when Schaeffer was 44, he yelled at her to come to the kitchen.

He then came up behind her and began touching her all over her body, including undoing and pulling down her jeans and then touching her for about two minutes. She cried and continually told him to stop, and eventually was able to return to her bedroom, the release says.