Assault

Sexual assault cases in Anchorage are reported often, but Anchorage police say they rarely deal with cases involving a man as the victim. It's an issue brought to light by Thursday's arraignment of an Eagle River woman, accused of sexually assaulting and blackmailing an Air Force airman visiting Alaska for training. Agencies that deal with domestic and sexual violence say it's a major issue that is rarely reported -- one they say the public needs to know about.  It's a kind of violence that isn't about physical power, and victims often don't fight back.

An Eagle River woman was arrested Wednesday on sexual-assault and coercion charges after she allegedly tried to blackmail an Air Force airman over sexual acts committed without his consent. According to APD spokesperson Lt. Dave Parker, 40-year-old Lagina Griffiths met the airman at a Downtown bar -- identified by investigators as Rumrunner's Old Towne Bar and Grill -- Friday night. “She took the airman home with her where she engaged in sexual acts with him while he was unaware and without his consent,” Parker wrote in a Thursday statement on the case.

The head of the Alaska State Troopers says officers are dealing with more aggressive behavior from suspects. The comments from Col. Keith Mallard came after Friday's deadly trooper-involved shooting on the Glenn highway near Thunderbird Falls. Mallard says 29 year-old Justin Lloyd Abrahamson was shot and killed after "assaultive" behavior with a bat. Officers had tried different attempts to subdue Abrahamson, including the use of a taser. It is the sixth trooper-involved shooting in 2012 and the first to end deadly.

Following a “guilty on all counts” verdict, Wednesday night, the 7-year-old victim said she can finally be a kid again. A jury convicted 32-year-old Byron Syvinski for attacking Am Marie Martin and her neighbor last year. The family has since moved because of what happened. Now they say they want to start on a clean slate and today was their first step. “She wouldn't act like this before, now I can tell,” said Andrea Dunwoody, Am Marie's mother. Dunwoody can tell you that this is a recent transition back to the outgoing daughter Am Marie once was, before police say 32-year-old Byron Syvinski punched her in the head and knocked her unconscious because she wouldn't let him have her bike.

Anchorage police are seeking a suspect who sexually assaulted a woman in Government Hill early Tuesday morning. APD spokesperson Lt. Dave Parker says police responded at about 1 a.m. Tuesday to the area of the A-C couplet bridge, where a 23-year-old woman walking near the bridge was approached by a man on a bicycle. “The male grabbed and pulled the victim into a wooded area where he sexually assaulted her,” Parker wrote in a Thursday statement. “The victim struggled and managed to get away from him. She immediately flagged down a passing motorist for help.” Although responding officers and K-9 units conducted a search of the area, they were unable to find the suspect.

Anchorage police have arrested two local men after separate sexual-assault incidents Thursday, including an alleged assault outside a Downtown homeless shelter. APD spokesperson Marlene Lammers says volunteers at the Brother Francis Shelter, at 1021 E. 3rd Ave., alerted officers who were already at the shelter on an unrelated call Thursday night to a sexual assault in progress. The volunteers approached a man who had put his hands down the pants of an unconscious, intoxicated woman, causing him to stop what he was doing.

After cabbie Paul Velasco's arrest for an alleged May 1 sexual assault against a passenger in his Checker Cab, company operator Michael Thompson says he is comfortable putting drivers in the firm's cabs -- as long as they possess a chauffeur license. Velasco, 28, was arrested Tuesday after Checker Cab cooperated with an APD investigation of a 42-year-old woman's claim that instead of taking her home, he drove her to an East Anchorage trailer court and assaulted her, then dropped her off at a Tesoro station on Boniface Parkway.

An Anchorage cab driver was arrested Tuesday after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in his cab earlier this month. APD spokesperson Marlene Lammers says Paul Velasco, 28, is charged with one count of first-degree sexual assault. Police responded May 1 to a Tesoro gas station on the 300 block of Boniface Parkway after a 42-year-old Alaska Native woman who had just been dropped off reported that she had been sexually assaulted by a Checker Cab driver. The woman said she had been drinking at a friend's house on the 5900 block of East 6th Avenue until shortly after midnight, when her friend called her a cab to take her to a residence where she was staying on the 200 block of Newell Street.

Anchorage Police say a drunk driving crash injured a pregnant woman early Saturday morning. According to APD Spokesperson Lt. Dave Parker, at 1:51 a.m. the alleged drunk driver, identified as Shara Paulsberg, was speeding when she slammed her Ford Explorer into the back of the pregnant woman's Ford Taurus at the 36th Ave. and C St. intersection. Parker says Paulsberg and her male passenger fled the scene on foot, but were soon arrested by officers. Police say Paulsberg's breath alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit.

James Koenig, the father of slain barista Samantha Koenig, was arrested early Tuesday morning on charges including assault and DUI after he allegedly left an Anchorage strip club and drove drunk, threatening an employee who tried to stop him. APD spokesperson Lt. Dave Parker says Koenig faces charges of third-degree assault -- a felony -- as well as fourth-degree misconduct involving weapons, DUI and refusal to take a breath test. According to Parker and charging documents (PDF)