HOT SPRINGS - A former Fall River County sheriff's deputy will face a circuit court trial on rape charges, 7th Circuit Magistrate Judge Scott Bogue ruled at a preliminary hearing Wednesday at the county courthouse in Hot Springs.

Buckly "Buck" McColl, 42, is charged with three counts of third-degree rape, one count of false reporting to authorities and one count of perjury. The rape and perjury charges are felonies; false reporting is a misdemeanor.

Authorities accuse McColl of assaulting a woman in Edgemont early Nov. 22. The perjury charge came from McColl's alleged failure to list assets on his application for a court-appointed attorney.

After testimony from a state investigator and the alleged victim's daughter, Bogue ruled there was sufficient evidence to charge McColl for a circuit court trial. McColl will be arraigned March 27.

State Division of Criminal Investigation agent John Buszko testified that he was summoned on the evening of Nov. 22 to investigate a reported rape. He said he found the alleged victim being treated for sexual assault and that he collected the clothes she wore and helped prepare to send them to the state laboratory in Pierre for testing.

At the first interview, Buszko said McColl denied having sexual contact with the woman. After the DNA results were received, Buszko said McColl admitted they had sex but said it was consensual.

The woman's daughter testified that she and her mother had been together much of the evening at a friend's home, where her mother had, "a couple of beers and two or three mixed drinks" and became "pretty drunk." The daughter said after her mother argued with her boyfriend about a cigarette, she walked to the nearby Igloo Bar.

McColl's attorney, Greg Sperlich, requested that charges be dismissed, saying the testimony failed to establish the alleged victim's condition between the house and the bar. "There has been no testimony that says 'she was too intoxicated to consent' here," he said.

Bogue disagreed, saying there was enough evidence for further legal action.

However, the judge granted Sperlich's request to reduce McColl's bail bond to $10,000 cash surety, with the stipulation that McColl stay in Rapid City. Sperlich said the arrangement will avoid contact between those involved in the case but keep McColl close enough to assist in his own defense.

Editor's note: This story has been amended from its original publication to correctly reflect the witnesses who testified at the preliminary hearing. The alleged victim did not testify at the hearing, which was originally published in an earlier online story. The Journal regrets the error.