Warm Springs man sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for abusing two minors

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — A Warm Springs man who admitted last fall he sexually abused two minors on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in 2024 was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in federal prison.

Harold Charley, 39, also was sentenced to a lifetime term of supervised release, federal prosecutors said in a news release.

According to court documents, in January of 2024, Charley, a prior sex offender, "engaged in sexual abusive contact with two minor victims between the ages of 12 and 16 over the course of several weeks on the reservation," they said.

Last Sept. 23, Charley was charged with two counts of abusive sexual contact. Two weeks later, he pleaded guilty to the charges.

This case was investigated by the FBI, with help from the Warm Springs Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela Paaso.

This case was brought in collaboration with Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.

Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.