Public Safety

There’s one less defendant in the state’s lawsuit against builders of the fast ferries.

Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg says he received notice of a bankruptcy filing by Derecktor Shipyards of Connecticut. That means the state’s case against them is put on hold indefinitely. But the case against the builders of the engines for the vessels is still expected to go to trial in September. Derecktor employees can testify as witnesses, but they are no longer defendants. At least for now.

The sudden turn of events seemed to catch all the attorneys off-guard during a Monday hearing in Juneau Superior Court. Even Judge Pallenberg admitted, that in this circumstance with multiple defendants in a civil suit, he had not encountered it before.

MTU Friedrichshafen and MTU Detroit Diesel, German builders of the engines and American company that did the engine repairs for the fast vehicle ferries Chenega and Fairweather, abruptly cancelled depositions in the case that were scheduled to start this week. Attorney Jon Dawson said they needed to get a handle on “where they were in the process.” Attorneys Dana Burke and Micheal Lessmeier, representing the State and the Alaska Marine Highway System, were worried that the stay would become a mechanism for other parties to to be uncooperative in the discovery process and delay a trial. Dawson said he took umbrage at that, and said that they were being cooperative.

Adding to the complications, Derecktor’s legal representative in Alaska, retired Superior Court Judge Douglas Serdahaly, who is a lawyer experienced in other maritime and fishing cases, abruptly pulled out last week. The motion to withdraw was filed under seal known only to Judge Pallenberg. It was open to speculation that it was because of either some unknown conflict by Serdahaly or the developing bankruptcy. The lack of Alaska representation may hobble Derecktor’s efforts to defend their interests should they emerge from bankruptcy.

Multiple media outlets (one noted here) in the Northeast have reported on last month’s bankruptcy filing for Derecktor’s Bridgeport, Connecticut operation. A weak economy and lack of funds is blamed. Liabilities may range from $1 million to $10 million with the shipyard landlord second on the creditor list. Bridgeport Port Authority says it’s owed $387,000. Derecktor had just emerged from a 2008 bankruptcy about five months ago.

In a hearing in Juneau Superior Court last October that played out much like a naval skirmish, all the parties in the fast ferry case argued over interpretations of warranty and liability law, whether the engines were defective at the start, and whether the builders already knew that. An opinion has yet to be issued from that hearing. But because the State’s claims against Derecktor are intertwined with those filed against MTU, it’s unclear if that opinion will now ever be signed and issued.

The state essentially alleges the engines were not up to the task and the manufacturers tried to hide that fact. In filings made in November, state attorneys say the original design and construction contract specified a hundred-thousand hours for the high-performance diesel engines to power the high-speed catamarans. That comes out to about 25 years at about 4,000 hours a year. According to court documents, the State and Alaska Marine Highway System say that the hundred-thousand hour, 25-year specification was later deleted from the subsequent purchase order contract by Derecktor and MTU, and that both companies denied any obligation for a 25-year service life. The state is trying to add new charges including tortious abetment and breach of implied warranty.

The next hearing in the case is set for April 24th.

The FBI is warning of a so-called “Grandma Scam” in Juneau.

Con artists are again targeting senior citizens, posing as a family member who is stranded, has been in a car accident and needs money, according to Eric Gonzalez, the supervisory special agent for the FBI in Alaska.

“In each case, the caller claimed to have broken their nose and that’s why they sound differently. And then they asked the senior citizen to please send them money to handle either legal fees or medical fees, and the sums are usually about 25-hundred dollars,” Gonzalez says.

Gonzalez says in most instances, the caller sounds believable and has personal information about the family, often easy to find these days on Facebook.

“That’s really an easy way social-engineer some information. Usually you call a person up, pretend to be someone and try to elicit information from them. Now you just go to Facebook and you can learn all about a person; you can look at family photos,” Gonzalez says. “So with Facebook and these social media platforms the person who’s using those things need to make sure they understand not only the privacy rules of that platform, but also the privacy settings for their accounts.”

The FBI has had several reports of the calls in Juneau recently. Gonzalez says if anyone gets such a call, just hang up.

The scam is similar to one that often hits people’s email.

Prosecutors have charged three people for fraudulent collection of Alaska Permanent Fund dividends.

Kenneth Wilson Comfort II, 49, was indicted by a Juneau grand jury on Friday on charges of unsworn falsification and second degree attempted theft. Both of the charges are felonies and specifically focus on Comfort’s alleged untruthful disclosure of his absences on his 2011 PFD application. Comfort’s next court appearance is scheduled for March 8.

Also indicted on Friday were Slimane Benarroudj, 50, and Kheira Benarroudj, 37, on a total of eleven felony counts of unsworn falsification, scheme to defraud, theft, and attempted theft. The indictment alleges that the Benarroudjs made false statements on dividend applications for themselves and their four children dating back to 2008. The amount allegedly stolen was at over $41,000, including the Alaska Energy Rebates that were distributed during one year. Warrants in the amount of $50,000 and $10,000 were issued for each of the Benarroudjs.

Based on electronic court records, both Comfort and the Benarroudjs had recently resided in the Anchorage area.

A woman accused of driving drunk and hitting another vehicle on Douglas Highway earlier this month is being charged with felony assault.

A Juneau grand jury on Friday returned with an indictment against 30-year old Mellissa A. Derr.

Police have also charged Derr with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated in connection with the February 11th incident. Officers believe that Derr was heading inbound, driving a truck, when she crossed the centerline and collided with another vehicle at about the 3200 block.

Police say the accident closed a lane of Douglas Highway for about an hour. The driver of the other vehicle, a 65-year old woman, was treated for her injuries at the hospital and later released.

Derr appeared to be upset and clutching a tissue when she appeared in Juneau Superior Court during an arraignment hearing on Wednesday afternoon. Public defender Grace Lee entered a ‘not guilty’ plea on her behalf.

A jury trial is tentatively scheduled to last three days starting on May 7th.

An 18-year-old Seattle-area man has been charged with first degree murder in connection with the January 3rd shooting death of Ashton Reyes, of Juneau.

Jacob Mommer was charged Thursday morning in King County Superior Court, where his bail was set at $1-million. He was arrested on Tuesday in Maple Valley, south of Seattle.

Charging documents indicate the shooting was drug-related.

Ian Goodhew is Deputy Chief of Staff for the King County Prosecutor’s office.

“The deceased victim, Ashton Reyes, and a man she was with, arranged to meet Mommer and another individual to conduct a drug transaction,” he says, “and during the course of the drug transaction Mommer and the other individual began an attempt to rob Reyes and the man with her of the drugs. Gunshots erupted and at the end of it, Miss Reyes was dead, and Mr. Mommer and the other suspect had fled the scene.”

Mommer also has been charged with first and second degree robbery of items stolen from Reyes’ vehicle.

Goodhew says Mommer will be arraigned March 1st, two days after his 19th birthday. He says Mommer has no prior criminal history.

According to charging documents, at about 10 p.m. on Jan. 3rd the 22-year-old Juneau girl was found sprawled over the front seat of her car in a Subway parking lot, where Seattle police were responding to calls of shots being fired in the Rainier Beach area. As KTOO previously reported, Reyes was rushed to Harborview Medical Center, where she died about 75 minutes later of a gunshot wound to the torso.

The man she was with, identified in the documents as J.R., was found in a parking lot across the street with a bullet wound to his buttocks. In interviews with police, he said the pair planned to sell an ounce of marijuana to Mommer and another man. While J.R. told police his cellphone would have Mommer’s number, both J.R.’s and Reyes’ phones were taken from the vehicle and never recovered.

Police were able to obtain phone logs for J.R.’s number, and traced Mommer’s number to numerous listings on Craigslist for sales of marijuana, cellphones, and sports memorabilia. Seattle police served a warrant to Craigslist, identified the IP address and traced it to the Internet service provider for Mommer’s Maple Valley residence.

Seattle Detective Mark Jamieson says police are still searching for another suspect in the robbery and shooting.

According to relatives, Reyes had completed a dental assistant program in Seattle and was working as an intern in a Seattle-area dentist’s office.

She was a 2008 graduate of Juneau’s Yaakoosge’ Daakahidi Alternative High School, and the daughter of Rick Reyes of Juneau and Terri Reyes of Oregon.

Click here for iFriendly audio

A former Juneau police officer was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison in connection with a case that initially included accusations of sexual abuse of a minor.

Brian Ervin, 39, was later convicted of felony interference with official proceedings, or essentially contacting a witness in the case, as the sex abuse charges were dropped.

Ervin could be out of prison in three years with credit for good time. He declined probation which would’ve included any number of conditions. However, there may be conditions placed on his parole if it is granted.

Ervin didn’t say anything in court aside from answering routine questions from Ketchikan Superior Court Judge Trevor Stephens.

District Attorney Dave Brower conceded that neither side would be satisfied with the outcome.

“But I believe that this is the best result that we’re going to get here,” said Brower.

It’s a stiffer sentence than the one- to two-year sentence Ervin was facing earlier. He consented to a new sentence agreement after the first part of a sentencing hearing earlier this month. Brower questioned Ervin about alleged abuse of two siblings when he was a child. He denied those accusations as well as allegations that he had abused a teenage girl starting eight years ago. It’s those other accusations that formed the basis of recent charges of sexual abuse of a minor.

At least one of Ervin’s siblings was apparently prepared to testify during Friday’s continued sentencing hearing. That didn’t happen.

The accuser in the latest case also did not speak this time. But her foster mother read a statement handed to her by the accuser. She claimed the abuse started when she was ten-years old and became a nightly occurrence. She said Brian Ervin took everything from her.

“It scares me to think that in order for our court system to save a little time, that millions of sex offenders are able to secure a plea bargain,” she said. “And with that, receive little or no punishment for their actions.”

The accuser wanted the plea agreement dropped and the case on the alleged sexual assault to go to trial.

Ervin’s defense attorney Julie Willoughby said days, even weeks could be spent parsing through the truthfulness of the accuser’s statements and allegations.

“He stands by his testimony that none of those things happened,” said Willoughby. “Otherwise, he wants to put this and the public spectacle of this behind him.”

Ketchikan Superior Court Judge Trevor Stephens didn’t think the abuse charges were fabricated and he found the accuser credible by a preponderance of the evidence. That’s a lower standard than beyond a reasonable doubt.

“It’s not so much what she said, (but) how she said it,” said Stephens.

But Judge Stephens speculated that taking the abuse case to a jury at trial would be extremely problematic for the prosecution. He noted the lack of corroborating testimony or physical evidence, and seemingly shifting, even contradictory, recollections of the accuser.

Ervin entered a ‘no contest’ plea to the felony interference charge at the same time that sexual abuse charges against him were dropped last August.

Sentencing wrapped up Friday morning in Juneau Superior Court.

Ervin already reported to Lemon Creek Correctional Center last year to start serving out his expected sentence.