Spearfish hotel says it couldn’t have known about employee’s past sexual deviancy

SPEARFISH, S.D. – A Spearfish hotel is denying that it is liable for an employee who sexually assaulted two children in a public restroom.

The employee in question, Michael Schily, was convicted in July of assaulting the two boys, ages 6 and 3, in a men’s bathroom at the Spearfish Holiday Inn. Schily, 21, is currently incarcerated in the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. His prison sentence expires in 2049, according to Department of Corrections records.

The parents of the two boys – identified as Johnny and Jack Doe – were in South Dakota from Minnesota for a family wedding in December, 2023. They met members of the wedding party at the Lucky‘s 13 Pub, a restaurant attached to the hotel.

The older boy volunteered to accompany his brother to the men’s room while their mother waited outside. Inside the restroom, Schily, who was employed as a dishwasher at the restaurant, assaulted the two boys. After it was taking so long, the mother attempted to get into the restroom, but the door was barricaded. She forced her way in and found Schily with his pants down in front of the boys.

The boys fled the restroom and described what had happened to them. Police were called and Schily was arrested.

In a lawsuit filed against Frontier Lodging of Spearfish, the parents – who are also not identified to protect the identities of the boys – accuse the company of negligence for failing to know that Schily’s background included a background of drug use and sexually assaulting children. They also allege that Schily spent many of his teenage years in a treatment center for sexually aggressive males.

But in its reply, Frontier Lodging of Spearfish argues that it couldn’t have known about Schily’s predatory past because it is in his juvenile record. South Dakota law protects most crimes committed by juveniles from being public.

The company included an exhibit showing that Schily’s arrest record consisted only of the adult charges filed against him following the bathroom assault. The company also included an affidavit from Ashley Maberry, who manages the state’s sex offender registry. In that affidavit, Maberry says that Schily would not have been required to register as a sex offender until after his conviction against the two boys. Schily was first signed up on the registry by the penitentiary on Aug. 2, according to Maberry.

“Defendant alleges that Raven Schily indicated on his job application that he had never been convicted of a felony and he had no adult criminal history of sex offenses and to the extent Schily had juvenile crimes for sex offenses, that information is confidential per SDCL 26-7A-27 and not available to Defendant,” the company says in its reply.

The company also alleges that Schily did not disclose on his job application that he was at a treatment facility for sexually aggressive juveniles. Rather, he said he attended school at the McCrossan Boys Ranch in Sioux Falls from 2015-2022.

“Defendant denies that they had knowledge or could obtain knowledge to suggest that Schily was a danger to children,” the company’s reply says.

After filing its answer to the complaint, Frontier Lodging of Spearfish filed a motion for an immediate ruling in the case, bypassing the discovery process and a potential trial. A ruling had not been made on the motion for a judgement on the pleadings as of Sunday.

Frontier Lodging is represented by Joshua Finer of Richardson, Wyly, Wise, Sauck & Hieb in Aberdeen.

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