In late June, police arrested 46-year-old George John McIntyre after a months long investigation revealed he allegedly possessed child sexual abuse material on his cell phone. In early February, the phone messaging and photo app Snapchat alerted the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children that two suspected illegal images had been uploaded by an account with a Sitka IP address. An Anchorage Police taskforce was notified, and secured a search warrant for the Yahoo email address associated with the Snapchat account. The email account was used by police to learn McIntyre’s identity. In mid-June, Snapchat responded to a search warrant and provided over 200 files associated with the account, which police say were entirely pornographic in nature, and included more child sex abuse images. On June 24, police arrested McIntyre, seizing his phone and other electronics at his residence.
On July 2, a Sitka Grand Jury indicted McIntyre on five felony counts of possession of child sexual abuse images. He is currently in custody at Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau awaiting his next court hearing on September 22.
McIntyre was one of seven Sitkans indicted in June and July. Other charges ranged from assault to theft and criminal mischief.
On May 28, officers responded to a 911 call from a Sitkan who reported yelling and pounding on the glass of a nearby residence. They said a person who lived in the home had previously warned them that she was being stalked, and asked them to call the police if they heard any disturbance at her house. Police arrived and heard yelling inside the residence. A man came outside, and said he’d been attacked in his sleep by 34-year-old Cody Kinsella, who had allegedly broken into the home. Police say the victim had a broken nose, several lacerations on his face and an injured foot.
On June 4, a grand jury indicted Kinsella on two counts of assault and one count of burglary, all felonies.
The same week, 41-year-old Sheena Vaughn was meeting with her probation officer to provide a urine sample as a condition of her probation. The officer allegedly discovered Vaughn attempting to falsify the test. Police say Vaughn then admitted to using fentanyl a few days prior. On June 18, a grand jury indicted Vaughn on one felony count of tampering with evidence.
On May 17, around 1:30 a.m. Sitka Police responded to the scene of a single-vehicle rollover on Sawmill Creek Road near Shotgun Alley. They found the car with a passenger inside– he was uninjured but unable to exit the vehicle. They soon found the alleged driver, then 19-year-old Derek Hammack, walking along Sawmill Creek road a short distance from the collision scene. Police say Hammack appeared impaired by alcohol use. Both men were taken to the hospital to be evaluated, and police obtained a warrant allowing them to take a sample of Hammack’s blood. The blood alcohol content exceeded the legal limit. Hammack had two prior DUI convictions in the past decade, making his DUI indictment on July 9 a Class C felony.
Police also made several arrests on charges of theft and criminal mischief this summer. On July 2, a grand jury indicted 42-year-old Derrick Taylor on one felony count of criminal mischief, after he allegedly slashed someone’s tires at their residence on Sawmill Creek Road. Security footage showed Taylor puncturing the tires on April 17.
On July 9, a Sitka Grand Jury indicted 67-year-old Mitchell Widick on one count of felony theft. According to court documents, on July 7, police responded to a domestic disturbance at Widick’s mother’s home. Widick said his mother was attempting to evict him, and believed she should be hospitalized. Widick was arrested for allegedly assaulting his mother earlier that morning. As police were taking him into custody, he threw a pile of cash and cards on the ground outside the Sitka Police Department. The items ended up being the contents of his mother’s wallet.
It wasn’t the only time last month that police tracked down discarded stolen property. On July 23, police say 59-year-old Curtis Nelson asked an officer parked at the airport to remove a barnacle boot from his windshield. A barnacle boot is a parking enforcement device that attaches to windshields rather than locking the tires. According to a sworn police statement, Nelson had parked in a handicapped section of the Sitka airport but said he had forgotten to hang his handicap placard on his windshield. However, police say the barnacle had been placed on Nelson’s window two days prior.
Police told Nelson that he would need to speak to airport staff to remove the barnacle. Nelson then allegedly left the airport with the barnacle. Police tracked down the coordinates of the missing barnacle to the cold storage building on Katlian Street, but could not find the missing device, which is valued at around $3000. Several days later, the Sitka Fire Department found the barnacle about 100 feet from the seawall, using an underwater rover.
On July 30, Nelson was indicted on one count of felony theft, and one felony count of criminal mischief.
KCAW has reached out to defendants’ attorneys for comment.
