photo by: Mike Yoder

Thomas Spotted Horse appears Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019, in Douglas County District Court. Spotted Horse, a former Haskell Indian Nations University housing supervisor, has been charged with sex crimes against two children spanning a decade and on Thursday waived his right to a preliminary hearing in the case.

A former Haskell Indian Nations University housing supervisor charged with sex crimes against two children spanning a decade waived his right to a preliminary hearing in the case on Thursday.

Thomas A. Spotted Horse, 60, formerly of Lawrence and now of Lawton, Okla., appeared in Douglas County District Court, where Judge James McCabria accepted his decision to waive the hearing, at which the judge would have decided whether enough evidence existed to proceed to trial. McCabria scheduled Spotted Horse for arraignment at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 11.

The allegations of abuse date back to 2007 and continue through 2017, according to the criminal complaint filed Aug. 8 in court and made public following Spotted Horse’s arrest. One victim was 5 when the alleged abuse began, and the other was 12, according to the complaint.

Spotted Horse is charged with six counts in all — three against each victim — of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and aggravated criminal sodomy, according to the complaint. Four of the counts are off-grid, or the highest level, felony charges.

Spotted Horse — whose name has been spelled Spottedhorse or SpottedHorse in other references — was a recognized figure around Haskell.

The supervisor of housing, he retired in 2017 after 27 years with the university, the Haskell Indian Leader student newspaper reported at the time. Spotted Horse also delivered a pre-meeting blessing before at least one Haskell Board of Regents meeting in recent years, in spring 2015.