Ty Alexander Grussendorf, 22 at the time, follows his parents out of Juneau Superior Court after a trial date-setting hearing on Wednesday, March 1, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)

Ty Alexander Grussendorf, 22 at the time, follows his parents out of Juneau Superior Court after a trial date-setting hearing on Wednesday, March 1, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)

Grussendorf plans to plead guilty to sexual abuse of minor

Deal will include pleading guilty to two counts, dismissing 11 other counts

A trial was scheduled to begin next Monday for a Juneau man charged with sexual abuse of a minor. That date might instead involve a guilty plea instead of the beginning of a trial, according to court records.

According to a notice filed in court this past Wednesday, Ty Grussendorf plans on pleading guilty to two counts of sexual abuse of a minor. Grussendorf, 24, faces six charges of second-degree sexual assault of a minor when he was 18 and the minor was less than 13 years old. According to electronic court records, Grussendorf also faces a charge of first-degree attempted sexual abuse of a minor, second-degree sexual abuse of a minor and five charges of possessing child pornography.

The case gained statewide attention in 2016 when Grussendorf’s father Tim, a legislative staffer, was the focus of an investigation for potentially unethical attempts to lobby for amendments to sex crime provisions in Senate Bill 91, according to an October 2016 report by KTUU. While an employee of Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, and the Senate Finance Committee, Tim Grussendorf met with multiple legislators in 2016, according to the KTUU report. He unsuccessfully lobbied to change the age of offenders from 16 or older to 19 or older, with the victim age being lowered to younger than 12 instead of 13, according to the report.

Grussendorf’s attorney John P. Cashion filed a notice Oct. 10 saying that both he and Assistant District Attorney Amy Paige had agreed that Grussendorf will plead guilty to two consolidated counts of sexual abuse of a minor.

Paige declined to talk about specific details because it’s still an open case, but explained in an interview Monday that a consolidated count means that a defendant is admitting to conduct in all of the counts but will only be sentenced for one count. She said the sentencing range for second-degree sexual assault of a minor is 5-99 years in prison. Cashion, traveling for business, was not able to be reached Monday.

In the notice last week, Cashion requested that a hearing be scheduled for Monday, Oct. 22 because the jury trial was scheduled to begin then and everybody already had their schedules open that day for the trial. More details of the plea agreement will be released at that hearing, according to the notice. For now, the plea agreement is sealed, Paige said.

The case has had a long and highly publicized history, dating back to the original indictment in 2015. That indictment charged Grussendorf with six counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor and one count of attempted sexual abuse of a minor, according to Empire reports.

In July 2016, Pallenberg granted a motion to dismiss the indictment because a Juneau Police Department detective gave inadmissible hearsay to the grand jury that could have influenced the decision to indict Grussendorf.

A Juneau grand jury re-indicted Grussendorf in February 2017 on the same charges, and also with second-degree sexual abuse in reference to a second victim, five charges of child pornography possession and 25 charges of indecent viewing of photography, according to an Empire report at the time. Most of those charges have been dismissed over the past year and a half, Paige said in a September interview.

A hearing had not yet been scheduled as of Monday afternoon, according to electronic court records, but Paige said she’s hopeful the hearing will happen next Monday, Oct. 22.


• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.


More in Home

Pauline Plumb and Penny Saddler carry vegetables grown by fellow gardeners during the 29th Annual Juneau Community Garden Harvest Fair on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Dunleavy says he plans to reestablish state Department of Agriculture via executive order

Demoted to division status after statehood, governor says revival will improve food production policies.

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, Dec. 18, 2024. The Senate passed bipartisan legislation early Saturday that would give full Social Security benefits to a group of public sector retirees who currently receive them at a reduced level, sending the bill to President JOE Biden. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)
Congress OKs full Social Security benefits for public sector retirees, including 15,000 in Alaska

Biden expected to sign bill that eliminates government pension offset from benefits.

Alan Steffert, a project engineer for the City and Borough of Juneau, explains alternatives considered when assessing infrastructure improvements including utilities upgrades during a meeting to discuss a proposed fee increase Thursday night at Thunder Mountain Middle School. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Hike of more than 60% in water rates, 80% in sewer over next five years proposed by CBJ utilities

Increase needed due to rates not keeping up with inflation, officials say; Assembly will need to OK plan.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy and President-elect Donald Trump (left) will be working as chief executives at opposite ends of the U.S. next year, a face constructed of rocks on Sandy Beach is seen among snow in November (center), and KINY’s prize patrol van (right) flashes its colors outside the station this summer. (Photos, from left to right, from Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office, Elliot Welch via Juneau Parks and Recreation, and Mark Sabbatini via the Juneau Empire)
Juneau’s 10 strangest news stories of 2024

Governor’s captivating journey to nowhere, woman who won’t leave the beach among those making waves.

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears boys basketball team pose in the bleachers at Durango High School in Las Vegas during the Tarkanian Classic Tournament. (Photo courtesy JDHS Crimson Bears)
JDHS boys earn win at Tarkanian Classic tournament

Crimson Bears find defensive “science” in crucial second half swing.

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears girls basketball team pose at the Ceasar’s Palace fountain in Las Vegas during the Tarkanian Classic Tournament. (Photo courtesy JDHS Crimson Bears)
Crimson Bears girls win second in a row at Tarkanian Classic

JDHS continues to impress at prestigious Las Vegas tournament.

Bartlett Regional Hospital, along with Juneau’s police and fire departments, are partnering in a new behavioral health crisis response program announced Thursday. (Bartlett Regional Hospital photo)
New local behavioral health crisis program using hospital, fire and police officials debuts

Mobile crisis team of responders forms five months after hospital ends crisis stabilization program.

The cover image from Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s “Alaska Priorities For Federal Transition” report. (Office of the Governor)
Loch Ness ducks or ‘vampire grebes’? Alaska governor report for Trump comes with AI hallucinations

A ChatGPT-generated image of Alaska included some strange-looking waterfowl.

Rep. Alyse Galvin, an Anchorage independent, takes a photo with Meadow Stanley, a senior at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on April before they took part in a march protesting education funding from the school to the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Drops in Alaska’s student test scores and education funding follow similar paths past 20 years, study claims

Fourth graders now are a year behind their 2007 peers in reading and math, author of report asserts.

Most Read