Two Sitka men face child exploitation charges

Two Sitka men face felony child sexual abuse material charges after Task Force Dawnbreaker, Alaska's statewide online child-exploitation unit, arrested both within a day of each other this week following separate investigations into online accounts.

Bradley Rosson, 54, was arrested Wednesday and charged with ten counts of possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material, according to the Alaska Bureau of Investigation. Investigators say they opened the case June 19 after receiving multiple reports that an online account was being used to upload and store such material, and identified Rosson as the account's user. He is held without bail at Sitka Jail.

In a separate case, George McIntyre, 46, was arrested June 24 on ten counts of possessing and distributing the same kind of material. Investigators say that case began June 17, also after multiple reports about an online account, and that they identified McIntyre as its user before arresting him seven days later. He is also held at Sitka Jail without bail.

Both charges are accusations. Rosson and McIntyre are each presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty, and as of this report no court dates or defense attorneys had been listed, and the underlying court filings — which would detail how the counts break down and describe the alleged conduct — had not been made public.

Both arrests were the work of Task Force Dawnbreaker, a unit within the Alaska Bureau of Investigation that targets online child sexual exploitation statewide, with help from the Department of Public Safety Training Academy, the Sitka Police Department, and the Anchorage Police Department. Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case told the Anchorage Assembly in March that the task force has operated since 2007 and now includes 34 agencies across Alaska, and that his department alone made 14 related arrests in the prior year.