Man pleads guilty in child sexual abuse case, admits abusing seven children

A 49-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to sexually abusing children in Fairbanks and Anchorage from 2003 to 2018, and he will receive a sentence with 35 years to serve, the Alaska Department of Law said.

As part of his plea, William John Sorensen admitted sexually abusing seven children, ages about 4 to 15, some of them for years. He pleaded guilty in Anchorage Superior Court to two counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor on what was scheduled as the first day of his jury trial, and prosecutors dismissed 16 other charges, court records show.

He befriended single or divorced mothers, then abused their children when they were left in his care, and the abuse went on until the children reported it or moved away from him, the department said.

The case began in 2018, when one victim reported the abuse to Anchorage police. Detectives found three others who had reported abuse in Fairbanks in the early 2000s, and three more came forward later. Sorensen has been in custody since October 2018, according to police. Last year, police said detectives believed there could be more victims, possibly from before 2018, who hadn't come forward.

The department said he will be sentenced to 50 years on each count, with 25 years of each suspended, time that could be imposed later if he violated probation. With 10 years of one count served after the other, that adds up to 35 years to serve. Superior Court Judge Jack McKenna is scheduled to sentence him April 16, according to court records.

The case "would not have been possible without the bravery of the victims in coming forward," the department said. Anchorage police's Crimes Against Children Unit and the Alaska Bureau of Investigation investigated it. Anchorage Assistant District Attorney Tylor Schmitt and Amy Wang, an assistant attorney general with the Office of Special Prosecutions, prosecuted it.