Craig police chief expects slower prosecutions after Ketchikan DA's departure

The prosecutors' office that handles criminal cases from Craig and the rest of Prince of Wales Island has lost its district attorney and is down to two assistant district attorneys, Craig Police Chief RJ Ely told the City Council in a written report.

"Until Ketchikan Office is fully staffed, we are going to see a delay in prosecutions of cases," Ely wrote in the report, dated Oct. 28.

Ely wrote that he met in Juneau with the district attorney now covering Ketchikan. The Alaska Department of Law's website lists Whitney-Marie Bostick, the Juneau district attorney, as acting district attorney in Ketchikan.

That puts one prosecutor in charge of both offices. The Juneau office has five attorneys, plus one in Sitka, and covers northern Southeast from Yakutat south to Wrangell, according to its website.

Ely's report doesn't name the prosecutor who left. A Department of Law release in April identified Alex Kramarczuk as Ketchikan district attorney. He was appointed in January 2023 and had been an assistant district attorney there since 2018.

The department hasn't said publicly when or why the office's leadership changed. Neither Kramarczuk nor Bostick has commented.

The department is advertising for an assistant district attorney in Ketchikan. The job covers cases in the Ketchikan district and superior courts and could include cases on Prince of Wales Island and in Petersburg and Wrangell, the posting says. Bostick is listed as the contact.

Juneau prosecutors have handled Ketchikan cases before. This spring, a Juneau assistant district attorney prosecuted at least three Ketchikan cases, including a weeklong trial that ended in May, according to department releases.

From Sept. 22 to Oct. 27, the Craig police dispatch center logged 726 calls for service in Craig, 293 in Klawock and 12 for Alaska State Troopers, according to Ely's report. Craig police are hiring a police officer and a part-time dispatcher.

The City Council next meets Nov. 5.