{"id":222167,"date":"2022-07-20T13:05:16","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T18:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=222167"},"modified":"2022-07-21T12:00:14","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T17:00:14","slug":"minnesota-casino-child-sex-incident-leads-to-prison-term-for-ex-cop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/minnesota-casino-child-sex-incident-leads-to-prison-term-for-ex-cop\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Casino Child Sex Incident Leads to Prison Term for Ex-Cop"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A former Canadian police officer was sentenced Tuesday to spend 10 years in prison for his alleged sexual contact with two children at Minnesota\u2019s Fortune Bay Resort and Casino. Both victims were under 12 at the time.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_222170\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-222170\" data-style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-222170\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Tunheim_060.20x24-142x126.jpg\" alt=\"US District Court Judge John R. Tunheim\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1068\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-222170\"class=\"text-description\">US District Court Judge John R. Tunheim, pictured above. The judge sentenced a defendant to a decade in prison. The defendant allegedly had sexual contact with two minors at a Minnesota casino. (Image: Wikiipedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Brady John Hillis, 33, who resided in Canada, was sentenced to 120 months in prison by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/minnesota-sports-betting-effort-dead-lawmaker-process-screwed-up\/\">Minnesota<\/a> US District Court Judge John R. Tunheim. Upon his release from custody, Hillis will be under supervised release for ten years, Minnesota US Attorney Andrew M. Luger said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>On June 22, 2018, Hillis was seen in Fortune Bay\u2019s security surveillance video engaging in sexual contact with the children, prosecutors claimed.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>On Jan. 18, Hillis pleaded guilty to two counts of abusive sexual contact with a child under 12 years of age, Luger said. The victims, like Hillis, were guests at the casino\u2019s resort, <em>TB News<\/em>, a Canadian news organization, reported.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Judge Tunheim is a former Minnesota state solicitor general and a former chief deputy state attorney general.<\/p>\n<h2>Hillis Tried to Stay in Canada<\/h2>\n<p>Earlier, Hillis was turned down by a Canadian judge and later Canadian appeal judges when appealing extradition to the US to face the charges, <em>TB News<\/em> said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>Hillis formerly was a police officer in Ontario, <em>KSTP<\/em>, a local TV station, reported. Before pleading guilty, Hillis was put on paid suspension from his job with the Ontario Provincial Police, <em>TB News<\/em> said. In January, he officially quit his job.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The casino is located on the Bois Forte Indian Reservation in Northern Minnesota\u2019s Koochiching County. It is south of the Canadian border.<\/p>\n<h2>Pennsylvania Arrest<\/h2>\n<p>In November, a 65-year-old man appeared in court for allegedly sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl outside Pennsylvania\u2019s Mohegan Sun Pocono casino. The attack took place in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Police said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pennsylvania-casino-alleged-child-sex-assault-assailant-to-appear-in-court\/\">Mateo Mejia<\/a> of Scranton, Pa. admitted to the assault while questioned by authorities. The girl recently informed police about the assault, the <em>Citizens\u2019 Voice<\/em>, a Pennsylvania newspaper, reported.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>While in a parked car at the Wilkes-Barre gaming property, he allegedly placed his hand up her leggings, exposed himself, and forced her to touch his genitals, police said. Mejia was arraigned on charges of corruption of a minor, indecent exposure, and indecent assault of a minor, according to <em>PennLive<\/em>, a regional news site.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The victim\u2019s relative was in the casino gambling while the attack occurred.<\/p>\n<p>The relative had arranged with the girl\u2019s mother to babysit the child. Then it was decided that Mejia was to watch the girl in a car while the relative gambled. The girl\u2019s mother was at work.<\/p>\n<p>Mejia claimed the girl was \u201ccurious\u201d about sexual contact, according to court documents quoted by <em>PennLive<\/em>. It appears the case is still pending in court.<\/p>\n<p>In another incident, a sexual assault of an apparently unconscious woman in a Bethlehem, Pa. casino bathroom in 2020 led to the alleged assailant getting sentenced to six months to a year in prison.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pennsylvania-man-sentenced-for-at-least-six-months-for-sex-assault-in-casino-lavatory\/\">Traver Tilley<\/a>, 31, of Bethlehem Township, was sentenced for assaulting the victim in March 2020. It took place in a woman\u2019s lavatory near the Vision Nightclub in the former Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, according to <em>Lehighvalleylive.com<\/em>, a regional news site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former Canadian police officer was sentenced Tuesday to spend 10 years in prison for his alleged sexual contact with two children at Minnesota\u2019s Fortune Bay Resort and Casino. Both victims were under 12 at the time. Brady John Hillis, 33, who resided in Canada, was sentenced to 120 months in prison by Minnesota US [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":222170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[13766,81918],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Minnesota Casino Child Sex Incident Leads to Prison Term for Ex-Cop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An ex-cop was sentenced to 10 years for alleged sexual contact with two children at Minnesota\u2019s Fortune Bay Resort. 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