Crime & Courts

A former Juneau police officer initially accused of sexual abuse of a minor could still face as much as two years in prison.

Prosecutors dropped the three felony abuse charges on Friday, just before Brian Ervin’s jury trial was to start on Monday, August 8th. But the 38-year old former downtown officer pled “no contest” to a new charge of interfering with a witness.

Ervin did not say anything aside from answering routine questions from Superior Court Judge Trevor Stephens, who participated telephonically from Ketchikan. Ervin’s attorney Louis Menendez made a short statement on his behalf.

“It ends the state’s relationship with the Mr. Ervin as to any charge or uncharged crimes of sexual misconduct or any other crime involving D.E.,” said Menendez. “He stands by the statement that he specifically and emphatically denies the allegations of D.E.”

Ervin’s prison term for felony interference with a witness may be well above the presumptive minimum sentence of a year because the crime occurred while he was out on release.

The accuser was present in the courtroom, but she declined to make any comment during the short change of plea hearing.

Menendez declined to comment further after the hearing on Friday.

District Attorney Dave Brower also declined to comment or explain what happened with the state’s case until after Ervin is sentenced in November.

Ervin started as a police officer in April 14, 2008, according to City and Borough of Juneau records. Even before the charges were lodged against him last September, Ervin had been reassigned away from the Juneau Police Department to other CBJ positions unrelated to policing. Human Resources Director Mila Cosgrove says it mostly was clerical and other tasks related to human resources or other administration projects. Ervin left CBJ employment on May 22, 2011, but Cosgrove declined to say whether he resigned or was terminated.

The jury trial scheduled to start August 8th was expected to be one of the very last cases handled by Menendez as a private defense attorney. He had delayed his installation as Superior Court judge until the Ervin case was resolved. One of Menendez’s colleagues will represent Ervin during the sentencing phase.

Juneau Police say an 18-year-old woman made up a story about being abducted and sexually assaulted because she was having problems in her personal life.

At about 2:45 last Saturday morning, the woman’s mother called police saying her daughter had reported being abducted at knifepoint by three men. The girl said she was taken to an unknown location and sexually assaulted by one of the men.

On Tuesday, she confessed to making the story up because she was upset by relationship issues.

Juneau Police Lieutenant Kris Sell says filing a false report is a Class A misdemeanor. But in this case investigators didn’t feel it was necessary to charge the girl.

“We’re hoping in this case that it’s a young girl who learned her lesson from this experience,” said Sell. “Of course, as a police department we really hate to see false reports about sexual assault, because it damages then the credibility of women reporting legitimate sexual assaults.”

The girl’s name is being withheld, because she wasn’t charged. Sell says the investigation is now closed.

A former congressional aide may spend as much as ten months in prison for a fishing violation while was a member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.

Arne Fuglvog submitted his resignation Sunday as fisheries aide to Senator Lisa Murkowski. In a statement, Murkowski thanked Fuglvog for his years of service and said he has cooperated fully with the authorities, taken responsibility for his actions and accepted the consequences.

On Monday, federal prosecutors filed a single charge of violating the Lacey Act against Fuglvog and announced a plea deal that had been in the works since last April.

Prosecutors say Fuglvog falsely reported locations of his sablefish catches between 2001 and 2006. From 2003 until he was hired by Senator Murkowski in 2006, Fuglvog also served on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the panel that’s responsible for managing sablefish and other species in federal waters off Alaska.

Prosecutors single out the 2005 season in which Fuglvog allegedly caught twice his quota of sablefish in the Western Yakutat area. He allegedly covered up his illegal fishing by falsely claiming that the other half of the catch, about thirty-thousand pounds, was caught in the Central Gulf. The violations occurred when Fuglvog was owner and operator of the fishing vessel Kamilar.

Fuglvog was charged with violating the Lacey Act because the fish was valued at about $100,000 and transported as part of interstate commerce.

He’s expected to plead guilty during arraignment scheduled for August 9th in U.S. District Court in Anchorage. He declined to comment on Tuesday. Prosecutors have declined to comment until after next Tuesday’s court hearing.

As outlined in the plea agreement, the possible sentence includes a $50,000 fine in addition to ten months in prison. He must also pay $100,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for enhancing fish habitat along the Gulf of Alaska coast. He must also have an announcement acknowledging his wrongdoing published in National Fisherman Magazine.

Fuglvog grew up fishing in Petersburg and was named Highliner of the year by National Fisherman’s Magazine in 2003. He also worked as president of the Petersburg Vessel Owners Association and served on the North Pacific Council’s advisory panel for nine years before his appointment as a full member. He was also a candidate to head up the National Marine Fisheries Service, but he withdrew from consideration in 2009.

Like Juneau, a small Arkansas town is trying to make sense of the death of a 19-year-old Juneau man who was allegedly beaten by four teenage boys while he was visiting their community.

As previously reported, Kevin Thornton died from his injuries Wednesday in a Little Rock Hospital, where’d been in a coma for a week. The sheriff’s investigator is calling the assault “completely random violence. “ The youth charged in the attack will be tried as adults for murder.

Rosemarie Alexander has been piecing the story together.

Local attorney Jack McGee reviews a case of a 14 year old boy originally convicted of murder who lost an appeal before the Wisconsin Supreme Court for his sentence of life in prison with no parole.

The Juneau Police Department says two teenagers are responsible for a string of vandalism incidents in the Lemon Creek Area.

One of the youths – a 17-year-old boy – was arrested 10 days ago on an unrelated warrant. Officers say he was spotted by members of the Juneau Citizen’s Patrol leaving the area of Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School shortly after it had been hit with a considerable amount of graffiti.

Police Spokeswoman Cindee Brown-Mills says a subsequent investigation revealed the 17-year-old and a 19-year-old male had tagged the word “toke” in several locations around Lemon Creek.

JPD has forwarded charges of criminal mischief against both to the Juneau District Attorney’s office. Neither suspect is being named at this time per department policy.

Brown-Mills says the vandalism resulted in approximately 1,120 dollars in damage to the school and nearby buildings.

The investigation is ongoing.