49-year-old Robert Cunningham of Palmer was sentenced to 88 years in prison with an additional period of 15 years of probation and a required lifetime registration as a sex offender after he pleaded guilty to two counts of Sexual Abuse of a Minor I and one count of Possession of Child Pornography. Cunningham was sentenced in Palmer Superior Court by Judge Kristiansen.

Cunningham’s plea and subsequent sentencing stems from an investigation that began in January of 2013, when it was reported to troopers that Cunningham had begun sexually abusing a five-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy and had continued to do so for at least ten years.

During the ensuing investigation, Cunningham fled the state and moved to Oregon.

After a Grand Jury handed down a 48-count indictment that included 41 counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the first, the Palmer Superior Court issued a $100,000 warrant for Cunningham and he was arrested in Oregon by Oregon State Police and extradited back to Alaska.

Cunningham had been previously convicted of possession of child pornography in 2001. Cunningham is also awaiting sentencing in a related child pornography case in Federal Court.

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