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A 26-year-old man in a western Alaska village was charged this weekend with getting drunk on home-brew, terrorizing his family and friends for about eight hours and raping a 13-year-old girl, Alaska State Troopers said.
In the four hours it took troopers in Bethel to get to the village of Nunam Iqua, 150 miles away, Angelo A. Sugar sexually assaulted the girl, one of the responding officers said.
"This family was tortured for several hours by this guy," trooper Teague Widmier said Monday in a telephone interview from Bethel.
Sugar faces at least 19 charges, including three counts of attempted murder.
Troopers said the man apparently turned violent after an evening of drinking and playing cribbage at his home.
Justin Ignatius, who was with Sugar when the incident began, said: "We were all OK playing cards. Everybody was having a good time enjoying the moment," he said in a phone interview. "Then everything just went haywire."
Sugar beat his wife with a 12-gauge shotgun and then tried to fire it at her, troopers spokesman Greg Wilkinson said, but the weapon did not go off. She ran from the house, grabbing her 1-year-old child in her arms, troopers said.
As she fled, she saw Sugar strike Ignatius in the head with the butt of another gun, Widmier said. Ignatius said he doesn't remember getting hit.
"I blacked out playing cards and the next thing I noticed I was waking up in the morning and my pillow was really bloody," he said.
Sugar then barricaded himself in the home with four children, troopers said.
At one point, Sugar grabbed his 1-month-old son out of the arms of the 13-year-old girl, and threw the infant to the floor, Widmier said. The girl told troopers the baby landed in a puddle of home-brew that had spilled from a five-gallon bucket, he said.
As the girl grabbed the baby, Sugar punched her and choked her, Widmier said.
"He had his hands around her so hard that she was blacking in and out."
He raped her on a bed with the infant crying beside her, Widmier said. Afterward, he rolled on top of the infant, Widmier said. The girl pushed him aside to pull the baby to safety.
The girl's 5-year-old brother and 7-year-old cousin watched the rape, Widmier said.
The children told troopers Sugar then pointed the shotgun at himself and told the 13-year-old to pull the trigger, Widmier and Wilkinson said. She refused.
Sugar then fired himself, "missing the girl by inches," Widmier said.
Village residents called troopers in Bethel about 5:30 a.m. Friday. Troopers had to charter a plane to get to the village because the state aircraft they normally use was being serviced, Widmier said.
Widmier said the plane could not take off immediately because the charter needed to be organized, pilots needed a certain amount of sleep and the plane needed to be warmed up.
"I told them it was a life-threatening situation, we need to respond as fast as we can," Widmier said.
They reached Nunam Iqua about 10 a.m. and took Sugar into custody. The loaded shotgun was nearby, Widmier said.
The girl and the baby were taken to a hospital in Bethel for treatment. The girl suffered a broken nose and her throat was so swollen from the choking she couldn't swallow, Widmier said.
Nunam Iqua, population 200, is on a south fork of the Yukon River, about 500 miles northwest of Anchorage.
The village, formerly known as Sheldon Point, has no village public safety officer or village police officer. Village Mayor Edward Adams said the village ran out of funding for a village police officer over a year ago. He said having an officer again in the village would curb violence.
Adams, who was in Fairbanks for the AFN conference, said tribal leaders returned to the village this weekend shocked at what happened.
"I think he shouldn't be allowed back in the village," he said. He said if villagers ask him to, he will introduce a petition to make sure Sugar does not come back.
Adams said Sugar is originally from the nearby village of Alakanuk.
Sugar was charged with three counts of first-degree attempted murder, first-degree sexual assault, first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, kidnapping, two counts of second-degree assault, one count of third-degree assault, three counts of fourth-degree assault, fourth-degree misconduct involving weapons, three counts of reckless endangerment, manufacturing alcohol, furnishing alcohol to a minor in a dry community and possession of alcohol in a dry community.
Sugar was arraigned in Bethel on Saturday. His bail was set at $100,000.
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