A 39-year-old man convicted in Illinois of molesting a 4-year-old girl and wanted for various crimes, including failure to register as a sex offender in Iowa, got a job last fall working for Vail Resorts in Keystone, court records indicate.
August Mussat was charged Wednesday in Denver U.S. District Court on a charge of failure to register as a sex offender, according to court filing documents. He faces up to 10 years in a federal prison. Mussat waived his right to a preliminary hearing and a grand jury hearing on Wednesday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Watanabe determined that Mussat was a flight risk and ordered Mussat’s detention without bond.
Vail Resorts said in a statement on Thursday that the company does background checks for employees who work directly with consumers, but not for all employees that do not interact with guests, “like this one,” who worked in the kitchen as a dishwasher.
When a U.S. Marshal’s agent contacted Keystone Resort and consulted its officers about the employee — who had failed to register as a sex offender — Keystone terminated his employment and removed him from employee housing.
“We place the highest value on the safety of our guests, employees and the communities in which we operate and we will continue to fully cooperate with the authorities,” the statement says.
In consultation with the U.S. Marshal, we terminated his employment and removed him from employee housing. We place the highest value on the safety of our guests, employees and the communities in which we operate and we will continue to fully cooperate with the authorities.
Court records indicate when he was 24 Mussat was convicted in on a charge of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child in Morgan County Circuit Court in Jacksonville, Illinois, and sentenced to eight years in prison.
Mussat moved to Davenport, Iowa, where he was required to register as a sex offender. On Sept. 13, 2016, a warrant was issued for his arrest in Davenport for after members of the Iowa Sex Offender Task Force learned that he had moved out of room 127 of the Knights Inn without registering his new address.
Mussat was a tier 3 offender, meaning that he was required to register as a sex offender for life. He was also wanted on felony charges out of the Morgan County court on felony charges including unlawful manufacturing of cannabis and unauthorized possession of a cannabis sativa plant.
On July 13, U.S. Marshal Joshua Clesi received a tip that Mussat moved to Keystone in November 2016, where he had jobs with Vail Resorts and Noodles & Company.
Noodles & Company officials could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday morning.
Keystone Resort hired Mussat on Dec. 31 as a seasonal “utility” employee. He lived at Sunrise Employee Housing, 35 Tennis Club Road in Keystone, according to federal charging documents.
Clesi verified on Oct. 11 that Mussat had not registered as a sex offender with the . Mussat was still living at the employee housing on Oct. 17, the agent verified.
