Crime and Courts

According to court documents, 29-year-old Trayton Ballot was on a three-hour flight from Anchorage to Seattle in January 2025. The victim, a 17-year-old seated next to him, said that she woke up after Ballot rubbed her inner thigh.

According to court documents, on Sunday 45-year-old Clarence Snyder Jr. threatened his wife and children with a pistol. One of Snyder’s children allegedly told troopers that Snyder fired the pistol twice in his wife’s direction while she was lying on the floor crying and that both parents were intoxicated at the time.

According to court documents, a witness saw 62-year-old Lowell Sage Jr. pull out a gun and shoot the victim, after teasing between the two men escalated.

Court documents show Alaska State Troopers received an anonymous tip on March 12 that 23-year-old Spencer Pungalik and another man from Noorvik planned to transport the airfreighted alcohol from Kotzebue’s airport to Selawik.

Troopers say 36-year old Marvin Cleveland Jr. made multiple death threats against another man and his children on Monday over VHF, a high frequency radio used to communicate in smaller communities.

Court records show 33-year-old Lennie Tuzroyluk is also accused of evidence tampering, weapons misconduct and assault in Peter Frankson’s death.

Police say 27-year-old inmate Kenneth Foster started a fight with Corrections officer Lorin Downing, who entered his cell after Foster threatened to harm himself.

30-year-old Brandon Swan and 39-year-old Austin Swan Jr. were convicted on May 24 in a Kotzebue court for the 2019 sexual assault of two women in Kivalina.

Court records show 67-year-old Steven Farmer is charged with second-degree assault in the case.

On Friday Superior Court Judge Paul Roetman handed down the prison term for 45-year-old Jim Adams, who was convicted by a Kotzebue jury of second-degree murder in September.