Craig police chief says Ketchikan district attorney's departure will delay prosecutions

Craig Police Chief RJ Ely told the Craig City Council that the Ketchikan district attorney has left, leaving two assistant district attorneys to handle all criminal cases in the office. Ely said in a written report dated Oct. 28 that cases will slow until the office is fully staffed.

"Until Ketchikan Office is fully staffed, we are going to see a delay in prosecutions of cases," he wrote.

Ely wrote that he met in Juneau with the district attorney now covering the Ketchikan office until a new one is appointed.

The Department of Law's website matches his account. Its Ketchikan office page lists Whitney-Marie K. Bostick as acting district attorney. Its Juneau office page lists Bostick as the Juneau district attorney.

Archived copies of the Ketchikan page from Oct. 30, 2025, and April 21, 2026, name Alex Kramarczuk as district attorney. The department appointed Kramarczuk to the job in January 2023, after he had served as a Ketchikan assistant district attorney since 2018. The department has not said when the change happened, why or who left. Neither Kramarczuk nor Bostick has commented.

A Department of Law job posting from October described the Ketchikan District Attorney's Office as a three-attorney office. The advertised assistant district attorney opening covers criminal cases in Ketchikan district and superior courts and can include prosecution work on Prince of Wales Island, Petersburg and Wrangell.

Juneau prosecutors have worked Ketchikan cases before. A Department of Law release on May 11 reported a Ketchikan jury verdict in a case prosecuted by a Juneau assistant district attorney.

The department has not publicly confirmed the vacancy or said when a new district attorney will be named. Ely's report does not say how many Craig cases are waiting.

The same report shows how busy Craig's department is. From Sept. 22 through Oct. 27, Craig dispatch took 726 calls for service for Craig, 293 for Klawock and 12 for the Alaska State Troopers. The department is still advertising for a police officer and a part-time dispatcher.

The council has not yet discussed the report. It is in the packet for the council's regular meeting Nov. 5 at 6:30 pm.