NewsCrime and Courts

Actions

Man who served as Fort Peck tribal cop charged with sexually abusing minor

Posted at 9:04 PM, Jul 10, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-13 15:06:12-04

A Fort Peck man has been formally charged with sexually abusing a young girl on or around May 2018, according to an indictment filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cassidy A. Adams in late June and obtained by MTN News Wednesday evening.

Mychal Thomas Damon, who was identified in a 2016 press release by the Montana Department of Justice as a graduate of the Montana Law Enforcement Academy assigned to Fort Peck Tribes Law and Justice, is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Great Falls at 10 a.m. Thursday morning.

According to the indictment, Damon was charged by a federal grand jury with abusive sexual contact. The grand jury alleges Damon “knowingly caused an individual who had not attained the age of twelve years, to engage in sexual contact with an intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade, and arouse and gratify […] sexual desire.”

The incident occurred in Roosevelt County at or near Wolf Point within the outer boundaries of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, according to court documents.

It is unclear whether Damon was still serving in his official capacity as a member of Fort Peck Tribes Law and Justice at the time of the incident. The name “Mychal Damon” is, however, listed in a phone directory released by Fort Peck Community College in June 2018 as a member of local law enforcement.

Damon is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. He initially appeared in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Washington in late June for detention proceedings.

Under federal sentencing guidelines cited in court documents, Damon faces up to life in prison, a $250,000 fine and “not less than five years to lifetime supervised release.”