A former Bureau of Indian Affairs police officer charged with sexually assaulting a Northern Cheyenne teenager while in custody and lying to the FBI about the incident changed his plea in federal court Thursday, and was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.

While the court hearing before U.S. District Judge William W. Mercer closed one part of Murrell Douglas Deela’s pending legal trouble, it may not be the final hearing or chapter, as the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Deela, 30, is being investigated for at least one more incident involving a youth victim.

Deela, wearing blue pants, a blue shirt and tie, while being accompanied by his wife and toddler daughter, changed his plea to the two federal felony charges to guilty, and entered a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

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The charge of felony sexual assault of a minor carries with it a maximum penalty of a life sentence in federal prisons. After asking Deela and his attorneys several series of questions and after background information was read about the sexual attack on Aug. 7, 2024, Deela was taken into custody by two marshals.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has agreed to recommend a sentence on the lower end of the penalty scale, which could range in the area of 210 months, or 17.5 years in prison. In the federal court system, those who are sentenced to prison undergo a series of evaluations and calculations aimed at making sentences consistent and fair, so an exact calculation will be determined by Mercer prior to sentencing.

In addition to facing the possibility of life imprisoned, the other charge of false statement carries a prison sentence of as long as eight years. In the federal prison system there is no parole. The felony charges also carry as much as $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised probation once Deela completes his prison sentence.

Deela has agreed to pay mandatory restitution costs, which will be calculated later, and the former law enforcement officer who led a team of snipers while he was in the Armed Forces, will not be eligible to ever possess firearms or ammunition again.

During the court hearing on Thursday, Deela admitted that on Aug. 7, 2024, he had a 14-year-old Northern Cheyenne girl in custody who was intoxicated. He then radioed he was taking her back to a relative’s house, but instead took her to a dark, deserted nearby park. There he took her out of his patrol vehicle in order to avoid being detected by the onboard camera.

Deela admitted that he sexually assaulted the female, having both oral and vaginal sex, and then took her home, threatening her not to tell. She told investigators Deela had said that she could avoid jail in exchange for sexual favors.

The victim reported the incident and also turned over clothes she was wearing to the FBI, which investigated the case. Later test results revealed that Deela’s semen was on her pants.

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“The FBI laboratory conclude the male DNA results found in semen stain one was 96 octillion times more likely if Officer Deela was a contributor than if an unknown and unrelated person was a contributor,” the court documents state. “The FBI Laboratory concluded that the male DNA results found in semen stain two was 99,000 times more like if Officer Deela was a contributor than if an unknown and unrelated person was the contributor.”

However, when his chief confronted Deela about the incident, he wrote that it was fabricated and denied it happened. The chief asked for the video from his patrol car, and on the night before he was going to bring the video footage, his vehicle caught fire while parked at Deela’s home.

Later investigation by the ATF showed that the fire had been intentionally set and though the video equipment itself was badly damaged, technicians had been able to extract video, according to court documents filed in the case.

Moreover, Deela’s fingerprints were the only ones found on his car after the fire.

Though the destruction of the car has not factored in the court case on Thursday, it was read into the court record, though attorneys for Deela said they dispute the cause of the fire.

Deela repeatedly told investigators and his supervisor that he had driven the victim home, only changing his story as the evidence mounted. He later said he driven her to the nearby park, just to calm her down because she was crying. He later claimed at one point she tried to hug him, which he said he rebuffed.

The court has yet to set a sentencing date, but tentatively targeted July 29, saying it needs a pre-sentencing evaluation and a psychosexual evaluation.

Deela will be required to register as a sex offender going forward, and may have other restrictions including where he can be and whether he can have electronic devices, Mercer said.

Not the only trouble

Though Deela’s attorneys claimed his actions on Aug. 7, 2024 were a one-time aberration, something even Mercer seemed skeptical of, Deela has a number of remaining issues, including the investigation of the burned police cruiser.

During the hearing, attorneys for the government also said the FBI is currently investigating another girl in relation to Deela’s time on the Northern Cheyenne reservation. While he did not specify what the agency is investigating, previous reporting shows Deela may have punched a girl in the face.

According to previous reporting, Deela hit a teenage girl in the left eye with his right fist. Deela apparently suffered from hand injuries after punching her in the face, according to court documents.

In another unrelated case, the U.S. government has also paid out $800,000 to the estate of another Northern Cheyenne man, Arlin Bordeaux, whom Deela had attempted to apprehend. Bordeaux died after being hit with an electronic stunning device and then shot by Deela. In that case, law enforcement experts said apprehending Bordeaux did not require the use of deadly force. Bordeaux had only been investigated for the misdemeanor of trespassing.

Reporting also shows that Deela had deployed his taser more than 50 times during his law enforcement on the Northern Cheyenne reservation, which spanned from 2020 to 2024.

His conduct had become so problematic the tribal council took the unusual step of banning him from the reservation.

“The council has grave concerns about the safety of individuals within the reservation if Officer Deela continues to work on the reservation while Office of Justice Services investigates his alleged misconduct,” the resolution reads in part, as justification for banishing him.