Warm Springs man charged with aggravated sexual abuse

A Warm Springs man has been with aggravated sexual abuse on the Warm Springs Reservation. According to court documents, on Oct. 16 officers with the Warm Springs Police Department responded to a home after a report that a man was found in a bedroom with two young children. Investigators allege a family member entered the bedroom and observed Jesse James Hicks, 34, with one of the children in a way that raised concern. They alerted other family members. Hicks initially denied wrongdoing, according to court documents, but later admitted to unlawful conduct involving one of the children during federal investigators’ interviews. Hicks was charged with aggravated sexual abuse, which has a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in federal prison, and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. “The allegations in this case are deeply disturbing and involve the exploitation of exceptionally vulnerable victims,” said U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford in a press release.

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