Kodiak jury convicts former jail officer of sexually assaulting prisoner

A Kodiak jury on Tuesday found a 27-year-old former Kodiak Jail corrections officer guilty of third-degree sexual assault against a female prisoner in 2022. The verdict came after a seven-court-day trial that began Oct. 5.

The former officer was taken into custody after the verdict and is not eligible for release before sentencing, according to the Alaska Department of Law. The judge ordered a presentence report.

Sentencing is set for Feb. 8, 2027, in Kodiak. The crime carries two to 12 years in prison, and he must register as a sex offender for 15 years after his sentence and any probation end, the department said.

He worked at the jail from 2019 to 2023, the department said. Prosecutors said that in March 2022 he took the prisoner to an area of the jail with no video surveillance, telling her to clean a drain behind washing machines, and had her perform a sex act.

The woman reported the assault to Kodiak police in 2023. Detective Samantha Talley led the investigation.

Under state law, it is a class C felony for someone working in a state correctional facility to engage in sexual penetration with a person they know is in Department of Corrections custody. People in custody cannot legally consent to sexual contact with correctional employees, the Department of Law said.

The case took three and a half years to reach a verdict. A grand jury indicted him in May 2023. A judge dismissed that indictment on a defense motion in January 2025; the court docket does not give the grounds. A new grand jury indicted him again in February 2025. In May, prosecutors dropped three misdemeanor counts that had been added to the case.

Assistant Attorney General Bailey J. Woolfstead and Assistant District Attorney Todd Shaker prosecuted the case with paralegal Crystal Locke. The defense attorney is John Henry Roberson III.

The Kodiak Jail is one of 15 community jails the state Department of Corrections pays under contract. The Kodiak contract was about $1.38 million in fiscal 2025.