Police Chief Sexually Assaulted Child For Years In Mille Lacs County: Reports

MILLE LACS COUNTY, MN — A former police chief and sheriff’s deputy from Mille Lacs County was convicted of sexually assaulting a child over several years at his home, according to reports.

Russell James Bankey, 75, was found guilty last week by a jury of felony first-degree sexual conduct with a child younger than 16, The Brainerd Dispatch reported.

Bankey worked as chief law enforcement officer for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe police and as a deputy for the Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Office, according to the Dispatch.

The assaults began around 2009, when the victim was 6 or 7, and continued for years, occurring hundreds of times, the Dispatch reported. The victim recorded Bankey over the phone in 2021 admitting to the assaults and apologizing, according to the Star Tribune, which reported Benton County investigated the case due to the potential for a conflict of interest in Mille Lacs County.

Bankey is also accused in a separate case of assaulting a child repeatedly in 1991, the Tribune reported, adding he is charged with second-degree sexual conduct involving a victim younger than 13, but has yet to enter a plea.