MONTANA
Indian Country Today Media Network
By Heather Steinberger
January 23, 2012
A law firm based in Yakima, Washington, has filed a 12-page legal complaint in Montana’s Eighth Judicial District Court on behalf of a Northern Cheyenne tribal member who is seeking justice for years of sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of a priest. This tribal member, now in her 60s, claims the abuse occurred from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s at St. Labre Indian School in Ashland, Montana.
This in itself might not be exceptionally newsworthy in an era where headlines frequently blare abuse allegations against priests, teachers, employers and sports coaches. But this case is different; the accused priest, Fr. Emmett Hoffmann, is a legendary figure on the 444,000-acre Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, located in remote southeastern Montana.
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