Ex-Madras cop sentenced in attempted abuse case
(Update: Sentencing on state charges)
A former Madras and Warm Springs police officer was sentenced Friday to 30 months incarceration for trying to abuse a female while on duty with Madras police, his second sentencing for abuse-related crimes in two days.
John Joseph “J.J.” Wallace Jr., 35, was sentenced by Jefferson County Circuit Judge Annette Hillman, three months after he entered no-contest Alford pleas to charges of attempted sexual abuse and first-degree official misconduct, court records show.
Wallace was sentenced in a Portland federal court on Thursday to six years in prison for repeated abuse of a minor on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.
The state charges, filed last June, alleged he tried to touch a female’s private parts while on duty as a Madras police officer in 2017.
Wallace entered a no-contest plea on the state charges in January and agreed to 30 months incarceration, to be served concurrently to the federal sentence. He also agreed to register as a sex offender, give up his police certification, pay a $300 fine and have no contact with the victim or family, along with five-years post-prison supervision.
He was ordered to report to prison on May 13.
According to court documents, the federal government’s investigation of Wallace began in January 2018, when Warm Springs Tribal Police officers responded to Wallace’s home on the reservation.
Officers were responding to a report that Wallace had abused a young girl. The minor victim and her mother, who contacted police to report Wallace’s crimes, are both Warm Springs tribal members.
An investigation later revealed that Wallace, over a period of years, had repeatedly abused the child by touching her private parts, both over and under her clothing. Wallace used his cellphone to communicate with the child and facilitate severaL incidents of abuse at his home on the reservation and on a separate occasion in Madras.
On Jan. 3 of this year, Wallace pleaded guilty in a Portland federal courtroom to three counts of abusive sexual contact with a minor.
Wallace became a Madras police officer in 2015 and was named officer of the year that year. He previously worked as a Warm Springs police officer for six years and was a reserve officer for Madras police after graduating from Madras High School in 2003. He was terminated by Madras police last year.
This case was investigated by FBI Portland’s Safe Trails Task Force, the Warm Springs Tribal Police Department, and the Oregon Department of Justice. It was prosecuted federally by Paul T. Maloney, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.
The Safe Trails Task Force (STTF) unites FBI and other federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies in a collaborative effort to combat the growth of crime in Indian Country. STTF allows participating agencies to combine limited resources and increase investigative coordination in Indian Country to target violent crime, drugs, gangs, and gaming violations.
Anyone who has information about the physical or online exploitation of children are encouraged to call the FBI at (503) 224-4181 or submit a tip online at www.fbi.gov/tips.
