Montana Republican Senate nominee Kurt Alme, who served as the state’s U.S. attorney, oversaw a 2020 plea deal that allowed a tribal police officer convicted of sexually abusing a 6-year-old girl to serve less than a year in prison and avoid registering as a sex offender. Alme, backed by President Donald Trump, served as U.S. attorney from September 2017 to December 2020 and again from March 2025 to March 2026.
Details of the Plea Deal
Mychal Thomas Damon, a 28-year-old tribal police officer, was indicted in June 2019 on one count of abusive sexual contact with a child under 12. The charge carried a maximum penalty of life in prison, a $250,000 fine, and supervised release of at least five years to life. The average sentence for such crimes is 62 months in prison and 143 months of supervised release, according to 2025 data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Damon admitted to touching the child’s genitals.
In February 2020, Alme’s office filed a plea deal reducing the charge to felony child abuse. The revised charge raised the victim’s alleged age from under 12 to under 14, removed language of sexual intent, and moved the offense outside the federal sex crime framework, eliminating the requirement for Damon to register as a sex offender. The deal jointly recommended a sentence of time served—324 days—and a sex offender evaluation. Alme’s name appears on the document alongside that of assistant U.S. attorney Cassady Adams.
Sentencing and Aftermath
In June 2020, Alme filed a sentencing memorandum detailing Damon’s skin-to-skin contact with the child’s vagina and the adverse mental health effects on the victim. Local reporting at the time quoted the victim telling a therapist, “Mychal touched me” and hurt her by putting his fingers in her “hoo hoo.” Ten days later, Alme announced Damon was sentenced to time served of 324 days and two years of supervised release. As of June 2026, Damon is not listed on the national sex offender registry or Montana’s Sexual or Violent Offender Registry.
Context and Criticism
It remains unclear why Alme reduced the charges so significantly. During his tenure, his office declined 64% of sexual assault cases. In a 2019 interview, Alme acknowledged this “is something that has to be worked on,” often due to “weak or insufficient evidence.” When asked about Damon’s case, an Alme campaign spokesman on Thursday accused unnamed Democrats of twisting facts. “Kurt’s liberal opponents are manufacturing a fake narrative that exploits crimes against women and children,” the spokesman said, adding that Department of Justice policy required pleading to the most serious provable charge. He also noted that many declined cases were referred for tribal prosecutions.
Alme is now running for the Senate seat of retiring Republican Sen. Steve Daines, who cleared the path for Alme by abruptly withdrawing from reelection in March, minutes before the filing deadline. Alme faces Democrat Alani Bankhead and independent candidate Seth Bodnar in the November election. The nonpartisan Cook’s Political Report rates the seat as “solid Republican,” positioning Alme as the likely winner.
