Alaska Digest
Sexual assault reported in Angoon
ANGOON - Angoon police reported that a woman was sexually assaulted early Tuesday at a drinking party in the Admiralty Island community.
Alaska State Troopers said four men who were at the party are suspects in the case. The woman and four men from the drinking party underwent sexual-assault examinations at the Angoon Clinic, troopers said.
The investigation is continuing, they said.
Disabled veteran sentenced for assault
JUNEAU - A disabled veteran indicted in August on a first-degree sexual assault charge was sentenced Thursday on a reduced charge to three years on probation and three months in jail.
George Shean, 53, has served much of the jail time since Juneau police arrested him on a warrant Aug. 22. He agreed to plead guilty to a felony third-degree assault charge.
The original complaint alleged he sexually assaulted a woman who was staying at his residence on July 31.
Defense attorney Rob Meachum noted his client had no criminal record.
"Three months for someone who's never been in trouble before is a significant amount of jail time," he told Juneau Superior Court Judge Larry Weeks.
Weeks told Shean he was "a sensible man who ended up being caught in something that got someone hurt."
He imposed 18 months in jail and suspended 15 months. As a condition of his probation, Shean will be forbidden from contact with the woman who filed the complaint, as well as her children and grandchildren. He also will have to avoid her place of business.
The woman did not attend the hearing, although Weeks confirmed she was notified of it.
Shean described himself as a self-employed artist suffering from epilepsy. He left military service in 1972 and hasn't had an employer since 1974, he said.
Girl struck by car dies
ANCHORAGE - A 13-year-old Anchorage girl died Thursday of injuries suffered when she was struck by a car on her way to school earlier this week, police said.
Kimberly Olson was struck Monday morning as she walked across a South Anchorage street.
Olson was wearing dark clothing and the driver of the car did not see her, police said. The roadway where the girl crossed was not marked as a pedestrian crosswalk. Police spokesman Ron McGee said the investigation was continuing Thursday, but the driver is not expected to be cited in the accident.
Fairbanks man pleads no contest to murder
FAIRBANKS - A Fairbanks man has pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in the stabbing death of a taxicab driver.
Jonathan Biederbeck, 21, faces as many as 50 years in prison for the death of 53-year-old Michael Belknap during an attempted robbery July 14.
Biederbeck entered the plea Wednesday in exchange for state prosecutors dismissing other charges. Biederbeck is scheduled for sentencing Feb. 19.
Biederbeck also had been accused of breaking into a business and taking kitchen knives from a warehouse a week before Belknap was killed. Police believe one of the stolen knives was used in the stabbing.
Enstar looking at southern peninsula gas
KENAI - Cheap fuel already available to many Southcentral Alaska communities has been beyond the reach of residents living on the southern Kenai Peninsula.
But Enstar Natural Gas Co. officials told about 40 area residents this week that plans to bring natural gas to the southern peninsula are moving forward.
Enstar recently filed a request with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska seeking approval of a new 20-year gas supply contract with NorthStar Energy Group Inc. The gas exploration company holds leases on the lower peninsula east of Anchor Point near the north fork of the Anchor River.
Northstar envisions building a transmission line from its wells to Anchor Point. There, Enstar would purchase the gas and send it south along a transmission line to Homer that the company said it would build once NorthStar can guarantee a 20-year uninterruptible supply of gas.
NorthStar currently has one working well east of Anchor Point, but it needs two.