(Kodiak, AK) – Last Thursday, retired Supreme Court Justice Joel Bolger found 49-year-old Nathan Benton guilty of two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree and two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the third degree after a four-day trial for conduct that occurred in Kodiak in 2020.

Benton chose to give up his right to a jury trial and be tried by a judge instead of a jury of his peers. Based on Alaska sentencing laws, the two sexual abuse of a minor in the third-degree counts will merge into the two higher counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree and Benton will ultimately be sentenced on two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree. Justice Bolger found that two statutory aggravating factors apply, specifically that Benton was more than 10 years older than the victim and that they were living in the same home at the time of the abuse.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Bailey Woolfstead of the Office of Special Prosecutions’ Rural Prosecution Unit and Assistant District Attorney Ruth Ptak of the Kodiak District Attorney’s Office. After the verdict, Benton was remanded pursuant to Alaska statute and is being held without bail pending sentencing. Sentencing is scheduled for November 30, 2023, at 2:30 p.m. Benton faces a sentencing range between 5 years and 1 day to 99 years.

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