Warm Springs Man Found Guilty of Attempted Aggravated Sexual Abuse of a Child

Yakima, Washington - First Assistant United States Attorney Pete Serrano announced that on August 5, 2025, a jury found Gordon Dean Rhoan, 25, guilty of attempted aggravated sexual abuse of child. United States District Judge Mary K. Dimke presided over the trial and set sentencing for October 27, 2026. Rhoan faces a sentence of at least 30 years, and up to life, in prison followed by no less than 5 years of supervised release and up to a lifetime of supervision and registration as a sex offender.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Rhoan is a member of the Confederated Bands and Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation and had been living on tribal trust land of the Yakama Nation along the Columbia River in Klickitat County. The evidence established that in February of 2023, Rhoan attempted to engage in oral sex with a seven-year-old girl. This victim courageously testified about this abuse before the jury.

During the trial, evidence was presented that this was not the first child Rhoan had victimized. Evidence showed two separate incidents of Rhoan's abuse of a child. The first prior incident occurred on the Warm Springs Reservation in February 2020, where Rhoan sexually assaulted a fifteen-year-old girl and admitting to having had sexual relations with her at least nine times over a three-year period. The second instance occurred in April/May of 2020, when a mother found Rhoan in bed with her five-year-old daughter. During that incident, Rhoan claimed not to know where the child was when he was, in fact, attempting to hide the child in the bed. When the woman discovered the child, her pants were pulled down, and she was not wearing underwear.

"I commend the courage of this young victim -- without her willingness to come forward, we could not hold a recidivist sex offender accountable," stated Serrano. "Through the courage of this victim, her family and the efforts of our tribal and FBI partners, a dangerous offender who was never going to stop victimizing children has been removed from our community."

"Mr. Rhoan displayed a shocking pattern of conduct endangering the most vulnerable members of his community. Protecting our children and bringing their offenders to justice is one of the most important things the FBI does. I am proud of the work by our investigators and Tribal partners, and the courage of the victims who told their stories, ensuring Mr. Rhoan was held accountable for his actions," said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Yakima Resident Agency and Bend, Oregon Resident Agency, the Columbia River Intertribal Police Department, and the Warm Springs Tribal Police Department. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael D. Murphy.
1:24-CR-2008-MKD