CRIME BLOTTER

Whatcom County man sentenced to prison for ‘horrific attack’ of partner

Jun 16, 2025, 5:00 AM

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The FBI seal is displayed. (Photo: Jenny Kane, The Associated Press)

(Photo: Jenny Kane, The Associated Press)

A Whatcom County man was sentenced to prison for brutally assaulting his former partner.

Jason Sieber Sr., a 50-year-old member of the Lummi Nation, will spend more than four years behind bars for assault resulting in bodily injury, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington Friday.

“This was a horrific attack over a long period of time–it could have ended her life,” U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez said at the sentencing hearing.

Whatcom County man sentenced for attacking partner

Sieber, according to records filed in the case, became angry over the amount of time it was taking his then-partner to cook dinner. He struck her repeatedly in the face and head and kept her from leaving to get help, the attorney’s office stated. The attack was “brutal and prolonged,” according to prosecutors.

“Sieber himself admitted, his actions ’caused her to suffer extreme physical pain, as well as protracted and obvious disfigurement,'” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.

Along with hitting her, Sieber hung her on hooks to his ceiling, leaving her trapped for 45 minutes, and strangled her, the attorney’s office stated. He also burned a cigarette on her and said it would be easy to kill her.

The woman reported the assault to Lummi Nation Police 10 days later, according to authorities. Sieber was subsequently charged in tribal court before the case was turned over to federal prosecutors.

Sieber also tried to have the woman change her account of what happened, according to the attorney’s office. Therefore, the judge determined that he tried to obstruct justice.

In addition to his time in prison, Sieber will be on three years of supervised release.

The Lummi Nation Police Department and the FBI investigated the case as part of the Safe Trails Task Force.

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