Joel Koskan was a Republican candidate for the South Dakota state senate in 2022. He was arrested in 2022 for grooming and raping a minor child who was a member of his family. It is alleged that he began grooming her as a young child. When she was 14, at bible camp, counselors discussed inappropriate touching and she told them about Koskan. A social worker was sent to do an interview but she did not cooperate. That was when he began to molest her. This continued for five years until she was 19. He was able to maintain control via surveillance cameras and GPS monitoring, limiting her social connections, even able to control her after she went away to school.
There were many text messages corroborating the vast control via GPS monitoring. He even knew she was at the sheriff’s office via GPS and sent a text telling her she didn’t want to do that.
Koskan quickly reached a plea deal that gave him a suspended sentence, so no jail time for years of abuse. However, the judge rejected the plea deal. A new plea deal was negotiated and at sentencing, Koskan’s lawyer said the victim did not want to see Koskan incarcerated. However, she was present and spoke for herself and said that not sending Koskan to prison was for the family’s comfort, not hers. She said that time away from the family and Koskan’s control helped her understand it was not her fault.
He was sentenced to ten years in April, 2023.
The girl is a Native American child who was adopted by Joel and Sally Koskan. While the circumstances of her adoption are not public, South Dakota is infamous for child-stealing, in fact, hearing on parental rights that take them away from Indians have been as short as sixty seconds. South Dakota has for years taken kids into foster care to pad the state budget with federal money.
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