A Grand Jury indicted three Sitkans last month, on charges ranging from assault and burglary to driving a boat under the influence.
On June 21, Sitka Police arrested 30-year-old Jorge Ruiz-Rivera for assault and burglary after the owner of a boat parked on Erler Street reported that he’d discovered Rivera on his boat without permission. When the boat owner told him to leave, Rivera allegedly pointed a handgun at him. During an investigation, Rivera returned to the boat, and was arrested after he allegedly refused to follow police instructions. During the arrest, police confiscated a loaded Glock handgun from his boot.
On June 29, a Sitka Grand Jury indicted Rivera on one count each of assault in the third degree and burglary in the first degree, both felonies. He was also indicted on misdemeanor charges of criminal trespassing and criminal mischief.
(Update, 11-21-23: Ruiz-River was acquitted at trial on charges of Assault 3, and Criminal Trespass 1. The jury found him guilty of Criminal Mischief 5, a misdemeanor.)
Earlier in the month, on June 8, Sitka Police responded to a 911 call that a man was hanging off the side of a fishing boat in the Sitka Channel. According to court documents 51-year-old Donovan Kintz was attempting to tie up his boat at the Sitka Sound Seafood dock when he fell into the water. He was rescued by a good Samaritan. When police arrived on the scene, they found that Kintz was slurring his speech and unsteady on his feet. Kintz refused to provide a breath sample in the field. On June 15, he was indicted for a DUI and refusing to submit to a chemical test, both felonies since he has two prior DUI convictions in Washington state.
Finally, on June 1, a Sitka Grand Jury indicted 38-year-old Robert Charles Sommerville on one count of terroristic threatening in the second degree, a Class C felony. In late May, Sommerville allegedly approached a former coworker in his vehicle on Seward Street and threatened to harm him.
As of press time, all three defendants are in custody at Lemon Creek Correctional Facility in Juneau with trial dates tentatively scheduled for August.
