Jail time suspended in child abuse case

Artis Kattenberg was found guilty of child abuse, but she won’t serve any additional jail time for it. 

A Minnehaha County Court judge accepted Kattenberg’s no contest plea Oct. 15 and sentenced the Brandon woman to five years of probation, with seven years of jail time suspended. 

Kattenberg was credited for the 260 days she’d served since she was arrested Dec. 29 following a search of the home she and her teenaged son, Nicholas, shared on Lakota Avenue. 

Four days later, on Oct. 19, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office arrested Kattenberg at Minnehaha County Jail on warrants of criminal mischief – second degree, reckless use of a firearm and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She was transported to Lyon County Jail.

Nicholas Kattenberg, 16, also faces charges in Iowa of criminal mischief and reckless use of a firearm. He remains in protective custody.

Brandon police began investigating Kattenberg five days prior to her arrest after a tip from Iowa authorities that the mother and son may be behind two drive-by shootings in Lyon and Sioux counties Dec. 17 and Dec. 24. 

The shootings, which occurred on back-to-back Sundays, targeted members of a Rock Valley, Iowa, church from which the Kattenbergs had been banned after Nicholas Kattenberg was seen carrying a gun.

Local police brought in Minnehaha County authorities, the FBI, Division of Criminal Investigation and ATF to assist with the investigation.  

Witness reports of threats from Netherlands Reformed Church members, along with records of thousands of dollars spent on weapons at area firearms retailers, led authorities to suspect Kattenberg and her son were planning a third shooting Sunday, Dec. 31. 

Authorities obtained a search warrant of their home, where they found more than 80 guns and 16, five-gallon buckets of ammunition in the boarded-up basement, along with tactical weapons and stockpiles of food.

According to court documents, Kattenberg was treated for delusional disorder at the Human Services Center in Yankton following her arrest. She and her son were found to have a “shared delusional disorder” that included the belief that he was an “ethanbot” and part of a video game.

Court documents make frequent references to Kattenberg’s belief that she had a “handler” and she and her son had microchips embedded in their skulls. 

A psychiatric evaluation was performed but is sealed to the public. 

Kattenberg initially pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but changed her plea to no contest.

In court Oct. 15, prosecutor Mandi Mowery with the Minnehaha County State’s Attorney’s Office argued that Kattenberg should serve a two-year penitentiary sentence.

Mowery argued in court documents that Kattenberg was guilty of child abuse by contributing to her son’s mental statue pursuant to South Dakota codified law 26-8A, which defines an abused or neglected child as one “…who has sustained emotional harm or mental injury as indicated by an injury to the child’s intellectual or psychological capacity evidenced by an observable and substantial impairment in the child’s ability to function within the child’s normal range of performance and behavior, with due regard to the child’s culture.”

Judge Natalie Damgaard said in her Oct. 15 sentencing that Kattenberg wouldn’t benefit from additional incarceration.

The probation terms include mental health therapy and no contact with Netherlands Reformed Church.

Brandon Police Chief Dave Kull said he wasn’t surprised by the sentencing. 

“I hope, like we all do, that she’ll find a way to get better,” he said.