Former Bagley school resource officer pleads guilty in sex abuse cases

Neil Henry Dolan, a Clearwater County sheriff's deputy and Bagley High School resource officer for nearly a decade, would take seventh-grade boys fishing on Minerva Lake. He'd ride four-wheelers with boys from the football team that he coached. He worked summers at Many Point Scout Camp in neighboring Becker County, taking a teenage boy on an hours-long drive.

From those positions of power, court documents say, Dolan then engaged in sex crimes, often calling teenage boys to his office, locking his door, lowering the blinds and abusing them.

This week, Dolan, 35 of Bagley, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, crimes that occurred between 2016 and 2019 when the students were 13 or 14. Dolan could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.

Dolan already is serving a 10-year sentence for sexually abusing three different children between 2016 and 2020. He pleaded guilty to those charges in 2021.

"We were careful with our kids," said Matt Singh, whose son, Lincoln, 19, is one of the six victims who've come forward. The Singhs said they decided to speak out because they believe it may help others come forward. "We brought him to school thinking that would be a safe place. And he was taken out of class his entire seventh-grade year, two or three times a week and brought down to Dolan's office. We were never told Dolan was taking him out of class. The school never told us anything about it."

According to several criminal complaints: Dolan gave one victim $6,500 in cash, which the victim understood as hush money, and told him that if anyone found out about their illicit interactions, Dolan would "probably just kill himself because he has nothing else to live for." He told another victim, "You'd better (expletive) do this or else I'm going to get you in trouble," and motioned to his firearm. He became Snapchat friends with a seventh-grade football player and repeatedly sent the boy pictures of his genitals. In ninth grade, he began calling the boy to his office, plying him with snacks, then sexually assaulting him.

Clearwater County Sheriff Darin Halverson said in an email that he couldn't comment about the case. Erich Heise, the superintendent of Bagley schools, did not immediately answer messages.

Lincoln Singh and his family said in interviews that he has suffered from depression and PTSD. His attorneys plan to file a civil suit against the district and the sheriff's office, and the Singh family intends to advocate on behalf of other sex abuse survivors.

"I held it in for three years, and when you're 13, it changes you when you hold it in that much," he said. "If a little boy or girl can see me and it helps them talk to their parents, that's when I know I've done what I can do."