Anchor Academy instructor is charged

A former Anchor Academy instructor has been accused of fondling a 15-year-old boy who attended the academy.

Justin Davis "J.D." Peterson, 22, of Miles City was charged Tuesday in state District Court with felony sexual assault. If convicted, he faces between four and 100 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

The Anchor Academy is a school for troubled boys operated by Hi-Line Baptist Church and Ministries at the old U.S. Air Force base north of Havre. The academy is home to more than 50 boys and 16 staffers. Peterson was a maintenance worker and an instructor at the academy, according to the document charging him with sexual assault.

Peterson had worked at the Anchor Academy for two or three years, said Ric Munfrada, the deputy who investigated the case.

Peterson was released without bond after his arrest because he had voluntarily enrolled in a six-month inpatient treatment program after Munfrada interviewed the alleged victim and before Peterson's June 16 interview with the deputy, Munfrada said today. "When he came up to interview with me, he had brought himself up from a treatment facility ," Munfrada said. "That being the case, I thought it was prudent for him to continue that treatment."

Munfrada said Peterson is being treated for a behavioral disorder, but could not name the specific condition.

Munfrada said he does not believe any other boys were assaulted.

The Hill County Sheriff's Office began an investigation in May after Anchor Academy superintendent Dennis McElwrath went to the Hill County Sheriff's Office and reported that he believed Peterson had assaulted one of the boys living at the Anchor Academy, the document said.

McElwrath said the boy, who had been living at the academy for more than a year, had told him on May 18 that Peterson had touched him inappropriately the night before, according to the document.

On May 21, the deputy interviewed the 15-year-old. The boy told the deputy that on the evening of May 17, he had been talking with Peterson while the two were sitting on Peterson's bed, which was behind a partition in the main dormitory, according to the charging document said. During the conversation, Peterson began to fondle the boy, the document alleged.

After several minutes, Peterson "asked that they kneel and pray about what had happened," the charging document said.

Peterson consented to an interview with deputies on June 15, according to the charging document.

Following the interview, he was booked and released from custody, Hill County Sheriff Greg said.

Peterson was issued a summons to appear in court, and no bond was set in the case, the County Clerk of Courts Office said today.

Anchor Academy officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.