photo by: Mike Yoder

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St.

A former Haskell Indian Nations University housing supervisor has been charged with sex crimes against two children spanning a decade.

Thomas A. Spotted Horse, 60, formerly of Lawrence and now of Lawton, Okla., was arrested on the charges over the weekend, according to court and jail records. Via video from the jail, he made his first appearance Monday in Douglas County District Court, where a judge set his bond at $500,000 with a condition that, if he posts bond, he have no contact with anyone younger than 18.

The allegations of abuse date back to 2007 and continue through 2017, according to the criminal complaint filed Aug. 8 in Douglas County District 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.

In an application for an appointed attorney filed Tuesday, Spotted Horse indicated he was currently living in Lawton and unemployed but had worked for a janitorial service in the past six months.

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.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office declined to release a mug shot of Spotted Horse to the Journal-World.