Haines and Anchorage police arrested two Haines men, aged 22 and 32, last Friday for felony-level sex crimes against a minor.
Officer Brayton Long has been investigating both men, who were friends with the victim’s family, for almost one year after the 15-year-old female victim’s parents reported the alleged abuse to police last August, police chief Heath Scott said.
The 22-year-old man was charged with online enticement of a minor and sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree—both class B felonies. A grand jury indictment says the man used a computer to solicit sex, and then had sex with the victim on July 27, 2017.
The 32-year-old man also was charged with online enticement of a minor. The man used a computer to solicit sex from the victim on August 8, 2017, according to a grand jury indictment.
Scott said there is no indication the two men colluded with each other to solicit the victim.
The victim’s parents showed police images and sexual innuendos from both men from the victim’s cellphone. The girl was then transported to the Child Advocacy Center in Juneau where she was interviewed further. Based on that interview, further physical evidence was later collected by police, Long said.
“We have documentable, hard evidence,” Long said.
Anchorage police arrested the 22-year-old, who left Haines for Anchorage during the investigation, where he is being held on a $10,000 bond.
Haines Police arrested the 32-year-old man. He was released Saturday after an individual posted his $2,500 bond.
Police have named Sean Sherman, 32, who left Haines shortly after Long started the investigation, as a person of interest in the case. Police are seeking any information on his whereabouts.
Scott commended the victim’s family for bringing information forward and urged anyone who knows about similar crimes to come forward. “We couldn’t have done any of this without the parents’ assistance throughout,” Scott said. “The parents in this case testified, brought forward evidence. We wouldn’t have even got a foot in the door if it wasn’t for them.”
Reported sex crimes increased by 14 percent statewide between 2015 and 2016, according to the most recent data released by the Alaska Department of Public Safety. In Southeast Alaska, the most common victim of a felony-level sex crime is a 15-year-old girl, according to the report. Almost half of the victims, 49 percent, are Alaska Native while 41 percent are white.
Of the relationship of suspects to victims who are between 11-17 years old, 68 percent of victims knew the suspect and 31 percent of victims were related to the suspect, according to the report. Only 1 percent of suspects were strangers. Seventy-four percent of reported sex offenses occurred in a residence.
Sexual abuse of a minor was the second highest reported sex crime in Alaska in 2016, accounting for 28 percent of reported felony-level sex offenses, according to the report.