Accused of touching girls as young as kindergarten-age during local church services, a 64-year-old Moorcroft man faces up to 81 years in prison if convicted.
The case of Charles “Chuck” Dean Massie, who would have been between 49 and 53 years old during the alleged crimes, was moved Friday to felony-level Crook County District Court.
Moorcroft Police Department officers arrested Massie May 23 after he disclosed the crimes, which allegedly happened more than a decade ago, to a counselor. The counselor informed him that his confessions of sexual activity with children would be reported to police in accordance with mandatory reporting laws, the department announced Saturday.
A criminal affidavit by Moorcroft Police Department Officer Trayton Dawson says Massie turned himself in May 6, after that counseling session.
Two weeks of investigation, child forensic and other community interviews spanned the length of time between Massie’s first interview and his arrest, Dawson’s affidavit indicates.
Massie told Dawson during his May 6 interview that he had touched three girls inappropriately but never inserted anything into them, the affidavit says. The officer wrote that Massie was reluctant to provide their names, and that he wanted the issue to be “over and done with and to be clear from all this.”
“I’m not saying the girls liked it, and it wasn’t them, it was all me,” the affidavit relates from that interview. “I’m the terrible one, and I’m going for help.”
Two days later, Dawson interviewed Massie again, this time with Moorcroft Police Chief Bill Bryant.
This time, Massie reiterated his story and gave the names of the girls’ parents.
And on May 9, the chief, Dawson and Officer Kendall Lossing interviewed the parents of some of the girls.
What The Girls Say
Child forensic interviews at the Children’s Advocacy Project in Casper followed, starting May 15, the document says. Dawson watched these interviews via a video link, he wrote.
A girl who is now 16 told the interviewer that she used to sit by Massie on a church bench toward the front of the chapel when she was 5 or 6 years old, and he rubbed her genitalia from outside her underwear. His wife sat on the same bench, but the girl didn’t believe the wife knew what was happening, the document relates.
That was during the sermon, she said.
The girl added that she’d go back and sit with her mom after about a half hour, and that the touching made her feel uncomfortable.
A girl who is now 15 told the interviewer Massie used to rub her armpit and breast area, and that he penetrated her vaginally with his finger on at least one occasion, Dawson wrote.
He “raped me with his fingers,” the girl said, according to the document.
Another girl, now 14, told the interviewer that between the ages of 5 and 9 she wanted to sit with Massie’s wife in church, but he’d always make her sit on the other side by him instead, Dawson wrote.
He squeezed her bottom, the girl said. Once at a person’s home he kissed her neck and cheek; and another time at his shop in Moorcroft he touched her “down there” – and she ran out, the document says.
Bryant interviewed a 19-year-old woman at the police department May 20, Dawson wrote. She said, reportedly, that Massie would touch her thigh, breast, and the edge of her underwear every Sunday at church for about four years between her ages of 7 and 11.
Two or three years ago she encountered him at the gym in Moorcroft, and he subjected her to an unwanted hug and kiss as she tried to pull away, related Dawson.
He also asked her if she’d work for him, saying it paid well — but her parents didn’t want her to work for him, the affidavit says.
Lastly, Bryant and Dawson interviewed a 20-year-old woman, who said Massie touched her just once at church, when she was around 7, under her underwear.
Some of the girls said they told their parents about the incident in the summer of 2024, and one father, in turn, told a local priest.
Massie, whose court file indicates he is out of jail on a $20,000 cash or surety bond, did not respond by publication time to a voicemail request for comment.
His attorney Joshua Taylor likewise did not respond by publication time to a voicemail.
Crook County Deputy Attorney DaNece Day charged Massie May 27.
His case on Friday rose to the felony court level with four counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor – each punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $10,000 in fines – and one count of sexual battery, punishable by up to one year in jail and $1,000 in fines.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
