Former Mille Lacs Band police chief convicted of sexually assaulting a child

A former Mille Lacs Band police chief was convicted last week of sexually assaulting a child from about 2009 to 2015 and is accused of abusing a different child in the early 1990s.

Russell J. Bankey of Garrison was charged in January 2022 with one felony count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. The charges came after a woman told investigators she was sexually assaulted by Bankey, now 75, for a handful of years beginning in 2009 when she was 6 or 7.

According to court documents, the woman recorded a phone call with Bankey in August 2021 where he admitted to the abuse and apologized. When she asked Bankey why he assaulted her, he said, "I guess I was lonesome," documents state.

https://www.startribune.com/former-mille-lacs-band-police-chief-convicted-of-sexually-assaulting-a-child/600285706/