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.

On Thursday, a jury found Bankey guilty of the first-degree felony count and agreed there is an aggravating factor that could establish the basis for a longer sentence. He's being held pending sentencing, which is set for Aug. 25. His attorney, Christopher Sailors, declined a request for comment.

Bankey served as a deputy with Mille Lacs County from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s when he was appointed police chief for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. Bankey started as a part-time court security officer with the Mille Lacs Sheriff's Office in 2016. He resigned from that job in August 2021 when the allegations came to light, according to Mille Lacs County Sheriff Kyle Burton.

The Mille Lacs County Sheriff's Office handed the case to Benton County to investigate to avoid a conflict of interest. Three judicial officers also recused themselves from the case because Bankey worked closely with the courts. The case was assigned to Judge Antoinette Wetzel of Morrison County.

In the separate abuse case, Bankey is accused of assaulting a child on more than one occasion in 1991. In that case, he is facing one felony count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim under 13. Bankey has not yet entered a plea on those charges.