A Nome jury convicted a 78-year-old man on 28 counts of sexual abuse of a minor

A Nome jury convicted Isaac Ozenna Sr., 78, on 28 counts of sexual abuse of a minor Wednesday. The counts covered nine children abused in Nome between 1984 and 2014. The Alaska Department of Law says he faces a minimum composite sentence of at least 47 years and six months.

Jurors convicted him on eight first-degree counts and 20 second-degree counts and acquitted him on three of each. The trial ran two and a half weeks. Jurors heard 15 witnesses and deliberated 13 and a half hours.

In April 2020 a victim, then 14, told police Ozenna had abused her six to eight years earlier. The Department of Law says the investigation that followed ran several years and drew in the Nome, Wasilla and Ketchikan police departments and the Alaska State Troopers. Investigators identified and interviewed eight more victims. All nine testified at trial.

According to the department, the victims told the jury they had not come forward at the time because they were very young when the abuse happened, feared losing their families if they spoke, and did not believe they would be believed.

The jury returned Thursday to weigh aggravating factors, findings that widen the range a judge may sentence within. It found that all nine victims were particularly vulnerable, that four were legally members of Ozenna's household when the offenses occurred, and that Ozenna was more than 10 years older than each of them.

Superior Court Judge David Roghair presided. Ozenna was remanded after the verdict and is being held without bail. Sentencing is set for 1:30 pm on Jan. 29, 2027.

Assistant Attorney General Bailey Woolfstead, of the Office of Special Prosecutions' rural prosecutions unit, tried the case with paralegal Lu Iyatunguk of the Nome District Attorney's Office. The Nome Police Department led the investigation.

Ozenna's attorney can contest the aggravating factors at sentencing. An appeal period follows the judgment.