(Homer, AK) – Wednesday, a Homer jury convicted 33-year-old Vance Wolford of Attempted Sexual Assault in the First Degree, Indecent Exposure in the First Degree, two counts of Assault in the Fourth Degree, two counts of Stalking in the First Degree, and two counts of Criminal Trespass in the First Degree.

The evidence presented at trial showed that on May 21, 2022, Wolford aggressively propositioned a Homer woman, who had never met him before, as she was pulling out of the Grog Shop East parking lot at 10:30 p.m. She noticed that the man had been standing next to a Chevy Astro Van before he approached her. Before driving out of the parking lot, she told Wolford in no uncertain terms that she was not interested. Surveillance video showed Wolford pulling out of the parking lot in the Chevy Astro van to follow her.

The woman went past her home and made a U-turn to see if she was being followed. Wolford made the same U-turn.

The woman drove home as fast as she could hoping she would lose him and pulled into her driveway facing out in case she had to escape. Unfortunately, she lived on a dirt road, and Wolford was able to follow her trail of dust. He pulled into her driveway and parked the Astro Van facing her vehicle. The woman got out of her vehicle and yelled at Wolford that he needed to leave. Wolford did not leave. Instead, he got out of the van and chased the woman to her car and stopped her from closing the door. He tried to pull her out of the vehicle. A six-minute struggle ensued in the vehicle with Wolford keeping her from calling 911, trying to pull her out of her vehicle, and trying to sexually assault her. She fought him off and eventually was able to dial 911 and throw her phone so he could not reach it in hopes that it would connect to her vehicle’s Bluetooth. The Bluetooth connected to 911. When the 911 operator came on, the woman said where she was and that she needed help because a strange man was trying to rape her. Wolford got out of the vehicle and masturbated, which allowed the woman to close the door to her vehicle and drive away to safety as she accurately provided a description of him to the 911 operator who dispatched an Alaska State Trooper to her aid.

Wolford was quickly apprehended by the Homer Police thanks to the actions of another Homer woman earlier the same night. The evidence at trial showed that earlier, Wolford drove up in the Chevy Astro Van and approached another woman he did not know, who was gardening outside her home. Just as he would later do at the Grog Shop parking lot, he aggressively hit on the woman. She told him to leave, and he drove away. However, she was so shaken by the encounter she went inside her home and locked all of the doors. Less than an hour later, Wolford came back, parked out of sight in her driveway, went through a closed gate to the porch and looked inside the windows. The woman had her cell phone out and video recorded Wolford, which prompted him to leave. The woman got his license plate number and provided that, videos, and a description to the Homer Police, which led to the Homer Police being on the road and looking for Wolford and the van when the Alaska State Troopers were dispatched in response to the other woman’s 911 call. When the Homer Police heard the report, they knew where to try and find the van. The Homer Police were able to quickly stop and arrest Wolford, who had an out-of-state license and told the police he was on his way out of town to Anchorage and then to the North Slope.

Wolford has remained in custody since his arrest. He faces a presumptive sentence of 15 years to 30 years in prison with a maximum sentence of 99 years for the Attempted Sexual Assault in the first-degree conviction as well as the possibility of additional time in jail for the other crimes. The trial took five days, and the jury deliberated for less than four hours before finding Wolford guilty of all seven counts.

In closing, Assistant District Attorney Jon Iannaccone, who prosecuted the case for the State, told the Homer jury that this was a case about two remarkably capable women whose actions stopped the defendant and led to law enforcement quickly capturing him.

Questions: Contact Assistant District Attorney Jon Iannaccone at jon.iannaccone@alaska.gov

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  Alaska, assault, conviction, homer, sex, trial, wolford