Ex-Madras officer facing federal child sex abuse charges

A former Madras police officer is awaiting trial late this summer on federal child sex abuse charges alleging inappropriate touching of a girl living on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

John Joseph “J.J.” Wallace Jr. was indicted Feb. 28, accused of abusing a girl aged 12 to 15 who is a Warm Springs tribal member known to Wallace, court records show.

The charges include three counts of abusive sexual contact with a child and one count of attempted sexual abuse of a minor.

The indictment accuses Wallace of inappropriately touching the girl or attempting to do so in incidents between June 1, 2016 and Jan. 1, 2018 and on or about Jan. 26 of this year.

Wallace pleaded not guilty at his March 1 arraignment before federal Judge John Acosta in Portland, said Kevin Sonoff, public affairs officer with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland. He was released on conditions including GPS monitoring, no contact with the victim or her family and removal of a firearm.

A jury trial had been scheduled to begin May 1 but has been postponed to Aug. 14, Sonoff said.

Madras Police Chief Tanner Stanfill did not return calls or emails to NewsChannel 21 on the matter. But the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training confirmed that the Madras department has terminated Wallace. The state agency, which certifies officers, will wait on its own action until the court case is concluded.

Wallace became a Madras police officer in 2015 and he also 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 the Madras police after graduating from Madras High School in 2003.