LAME DEER — The girls who were sexually abused on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation have filed a civil suit.
Those crimes occurred in the parsonage home of Morning Star Baptist Church and at the Morning Star Christian Academy, according to the caretaker of the property.
Dean Alan Smith, a former pastor, is serving a 30-year prison sentence, followed by lifetime supervision.
Watch the full story:
In December of 2023, a jury found Smith guilty of aggravated sexual abuse, abusive contact by force, and two counts of abusive sexual contact by force and of a child.
Seven girls, who were around 12 years old at the time of the abuse, along with their parents, are the plaintiffs.
“We have alleged in that complaint that certain entities failed in their obligations to protect very young girls on the Northern Cheyenne reservation, that ended up in the care of former pastor Dean Smith who was a Baptist lay minister,” said Shane Colton, attorney for the plaintiffs. “We've not identified that he had any formal training, that he ever went through seminary or any any sort of advanced training."
The church, the Montana Southern Baptist Convention, Youthworks, and Smith’s wife are also defendants.
“It just did not seem reasonable to believe that she didn't have some idea of what was going on,” Colton said.
Jason Whistling Elk is the caretaker at the Morningstar property and he showed the bathroom, one place where attorneys believe Smith sexually abused several girls convicted of a sexual assault of a minor and sentenced to 30 years.
“So I was baptized by him,” Whistling Elk said.
But that changed when he found out about Smith.
“He was on fire for the Lord and then all of a sudden…devil,” Whistling Elk said.
“It had to be horrific and of course confusing,” Colton said.”And the betrayal of the, you know, a person that claims to love them and care for them want to care for them.
Court documents state, “Dean Smith was sexually abusing children, including children that he had access to as a foster parent.”
They also state that “Dean Smith knowingly engaged in sexual acts by using force of minor children, including children younger than age 12.”
“It gave him another cloak of legitimacy,” Colton said.
Whistling Elk says he has relatives who are among the survivors of Smith's assaults.
“And I find out that he’d been touching a lot of those girls that he was taking care of.” Whistling Elk said.
The grandmother of one of the plaintiffs says she did see some oddities about the situation.
“It's kind of strange,” said Joyce Three Fingers. “There was always, always a lot of young, young, young girls playing here in the playgrounds and I hardly ever saw boys.”
“The strength of these girls to come forward, that takes a ton of courage,” Colton said.
The Montana Southern Baptist Convention has not yet responded to our request for a comment.
