All charges have been dropped against a New Mexican man who reportedly propositioned two Powell teens for sex, after the 75-year-old’s attorney provided documentation about the former opera director’s mental condition.

Following his March arrest in Powell, court records say Charles MacKay moved into a secure memory care facility in New Mexico that specializes in caring for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Before dismissing the charges, Park County Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Skoric said he reviewed medical records showing that MacKay has obvious and severe impairment, which raised questions about his competency. Additionally, Skoric said the concerns about community safety have been addressed by MacKay now being supervised in a locked unit.

“Has he been punished? I think he has,” Skoric added, noting the publicity that MacKay’s case has received.

The allegations drew headlines around the country, in part because of MacKay’s decorated career. His 50 years within the opera field included a decade-long tenure as the general director of the Santa Fe Opera and was capped by his induction into the OPERA America Opera Hall of Fame in 2022.

The dismissal of the charges, which occurred on Nov. 26, was first reported by the Sante Fe New Mexican last week.

“Mr. MacKay is grateful that the charges against him have been dismissed,” Amy Weiss, a spokesperson for MacKay, told the newspaper. “He has fully cooperated throughout this process and is relieved to put this matter behind him. He appreciates the support he has received and respectfully asks for privacy as he continues to focus on his health and well-being.”

In the wake of MacKay’s arrest, Weiss had said he was struggling with “serious health issues.”

Powell police took MacKay into custody on March 21, after he allegedly approached two teenagers outside Blair’s Super Market, offered them an ice cream sandwich and suggested they have oral sex at his hotel room.

When later interviewed by police, MacKay admitted that he’d spoken inappropriately to the teens and that “what he did was wrong,” an officer wrote in an affidavit. MacKay reportedly told the officer that he’d never done that before, but sometimes had “strong urges.”

Police recommended a misdemeanor count of breach of peace, but then-Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Laura Newton instead filed four felony counts: two of sexual exploitation of a minor and two of third-degree sexual abuse of a minor. At the first and only hearing in the case, on March 24, Newton said the case posed “a significant threat to everybody in society, as well as to other children” and asked for a $100,000 cash-only bond.

MacKay’s attorney, Tim Blatt, countered that the allegations were out of character and seemed to allude to mental health concerns, telling the court there seemed to be “other issues that might need to be addressed here.”

One of MacKay’s former opera colleagues — who flew to Cody from Washington, D.C. out of concern for his friend — similarly told the court that “this is something totally out of character.”

Newton conceded that MacKay had no prior criminal record, but insisted that “if somebody had committed a violent felony, if somebody had done something like attempted murder or murdered somebody that we don’t say, ‘Oh, he hasn’t ever committed that crime before or doesn’t have a criminal history,’” she said. “I mean, this is truly alarming …”

Over her objections, Circuit Judge Joey Darrah set bail at $35,000 cash or surety. Blatt posted the cash the following day, allowing MacKay’s release after spending parts of five days in jail.

Blatt later informed the court that MacKay was living in “a secured residential hospice home in the State of New Mexico, addressing his mental health concerns.” The case was basically kept on hold until Nov. 25, when Skoric moved to dismiss the case without prejudice. That theoretically allows the state to refile charges in the future if circumstances change.