More awesomeness from the 49th state

[Frozen Sooner]

http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=9652114

Winner of lottery comes forward, is a 3-time sex offender


by Yvonne LaVoie
Saturday, January 10, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The winner of the $500,000 lottery drawing came forward Saturday to collect his prize, and the man who will pocket a half-million dollars from a raffle designed to benefit a sex abuse victims charity is a three-time sex offender.

Alec Ahsoak of Anchorage was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor twice in 1993 and once in 2000, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety Sex Offender/Child Kidnapper Central Registry.

The lottery, which had its drawing Friday night, was conducted by Lucky Times Pull Tabs. State law says all games of chance must benefit charity, and the organization Standing Together Against Rape, or STAR, was the designated beneficiary.

Ahsoak, who will turn 54 later this month, collected his winnings Saturday at Lucky Times in the form of a ceremonial check presentation.

He says he plans to use the money to buy a home and to improve his life, and late Saturday afternoon said he will donate $100,000 to STAR.

When Channel 2 News first met up with Ahsoak, he couldn't have been more excited. But as the day unfolded, Ahsoak's past came to light in an ironic intersection with the mission of the event.

Ahsoak says he's had a hard-luck life, and the money will help him turn that around. He grew up in foster homes and the Jesse Lee Home for Children in Seward.

In the past he said he has donated money to a children's home in South Dakota, but that could not immediately be verified.

Lucky Times' owners said they started the lottery with the best of intentions and really just wanted to help out a cause they believe in.

They hope just as many residents will want to participate in the charity lotteries to come.

Contact Yvonne LaVoie at [email protected]

Even worse, I think the statute of limitations on torts up here is 7 years.

[StoopTroup]

I love torts.

Especially those short torts.

[Okla-homey]

As to torts and kids, here in Okieland, the statute doesn't begin to run until the kids attain their majority. Mom or some other adult can certainly sue on their behalf before then, but the victims themselves get the full benefit of the statute after they reach adulthood.

That's why OB docs sometimes get sued 18 years after they delivered a birth-injured child.

Speaking of that, I expect we'll get texass-style* "tort reform" here in Oklahoma now that the elephants control both houses -- if they have enough votes and stroke to overrride a Brad Henry veto.

*under texass law, even if a doc kills you, the most your family can recover is $250K in damages from his malpractice carrier.

[1890MilesToNorman]

So this lottery benefits the perps and the vics.

[Frozen Sooner]

As to torts and kids, here in Okieland, the statute doesn't begin to run until the kids attain their majority. Mom or some other adult can certainly sue on their behalf before then, but the victims themselves get the full benefit of the statute after they reach adulthood.

That's why OB docs sometimes get sued 18 years after they delivered a birth-injured child.

Speaking of that, I expect we'll get texass-style* "tort reform" here in Oklahoma now that the elephants control both houses -- if they have enough votes and stroke to overrride a Brad Henry veto.

*under texass law, even if a doc kills you, the most your family can recover is $250K in damages from his malpractice carrier.

The more I think about it the more I think that there's something similar up here. The Archdiocese of Fairbanks just had to file bankruptcy over sexual abuse claims from the 80s.

And if'n Tanner kills me, my hypothetical wife deserves more than 250k just for loss of consortium. :D

[Okla-homey]

The more I think about it the more I think that there's something similar up here. The Archdiocese of Fairbanks just had to file bankruptcy over sexual abuse claims from the 80s.




That tolling (legally suspending) of the torts statute of limitations until the plaintiff/victim turns 18 is the law in every state as far as I know.

[Frozen Sooner]

Yup. Just checked it. It's 2 years from discovery or from majority up here.

Personal tidbit: Mom just told me that she had this guy as a student back when she was a teacher.

[Frozen Sooner]

Follow up to the story.

Lottery winner attacked; one man taken into custody

By JAMES HALPIN
[email protected]

Published: January 13th, 2009 04:38 PM
Last Modified: January 13th, 2009 08:52 PM

The winner of the state's first half-million dollar lottery was severely beaten on a downtown street Tuesday afternoon by a man wielding a tire iron or metal pipe, according to Anchorage police.

Police say Alec Ahsoak, 53, was attacked in the 400 block of D Street at about 3:30 p.m. when a man, accompanied by two women, approached him to ask if he was the man who won the $500,000 jackpot.

Whether the attack was motivated by Ahsoak's winning the lottery, which was held to benefit an advocacy group for sexual abuse victims, or the widely distributed reports that Ahsoak is a three-time convicted sex-offender was unclear.

"There was no apparent attempt at robbery," police Lt. Dave Parker said. "He was struck eight to 10 times, and then he threw his Pepsi at the assailant and he ran for Phyllis' Cafe and the assailant ran off."

By Tuesday evening, Ahsoak had been discharged from the hospital. In a show-up, Ahsoak identified the suspect as his attacker, but the man in custody had not yet been charged with a crime, Parker said. Police had also identified one of the two women and were treating her as a witness, Parker said.

Ahsoak told officers he had been stopped by a white man believed to be about 21 and wearing a blue and white checked shirt, blue jeans and a white baseball cap as he entered the 5th Avenue Mall. The stranger asked if he was the lottery winner, and Ahsoak said he was, then went into the mall.

When he walked out minutes later carrying a Pepsi, the man approached him, saying nothing more, and began hitting him on the head with the weapon, police said.

"Oh my God, I was so afraid something was going to happen to him," said Nancy Haag, executive director of Standing Together Against Rape, the nonprofit that benefitted from the lottery. "I'm just very sorry to hear that this has happened. ... Nobody deserves to be a victim of any kind of violence, and that's our stand."

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Ahsoak was transported to a local hospital to be treated for his injuries, which did not appear to be life-threatening, police said.

"There were injuries to his head -- lacerations, that kind of stuff," Parker said. "Nobody knows how bad it is until doctors do their job, but he was talking and able to communicate with the officers."

There were "loads of witnesses" to the attack, but none of them were immediately able to identify the man, Parker said. It did not immediately appear that the attack had been caught on any surveillance cameras, he said.

The lottery, billed as the first of its kind, was conducted under Alaska law that allows games of chance that benefit a charity. The charity must get at least 10 percent of what's left after the prize is paid out, and organizers have estimated STAR stands to get between $2,000 and $20,000.

Ahsoak claimed $350,000 in prize money after taxes, and, the day he came forward, pledged to give $100,000 of it to STAR, the owner of Lucky Times, Abe Spicola, has said. Spicola did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday.

Ahsoak came forward as the lottery winner Saturday, and reports that he is a convicted sex offender were soon publicized by KTUU Channel 2 News and picked up by other outlets, including the Daily News. By Monday, Ahsoak's victims were telling the media they thought Ahsoak should not benefit from the lottery, which was conducted by Lucky Times Pull Tabs to benefit the nonprofit Standing Together Against Rape.

Asked whether the media should have publicized that Asoak was a convicted sex offender, Haag said, "I think it put him, obviously, at greater risk because there are people who like to take justice into their own hands."

Ahsoak was convicted in 1993 of molesting two girls under the age of 13 and sentenced to four years in prison, according to court records.

Police arrested him again in March 2000 for molesting a different young girl he was baby-sitting. He was sentenced to six years in prison on a single count of sexual abuse of a minor in a plea deal that took another sex abuse charge and a charge of failing to register as a sex offender off the table.

Ashoak has finished his time in prison and is now on probation, but he is registered as a sex offender on a state-run public database. He told KTUU on Saturday that he's worked hard to turn his life around and has been in treatment for the past year.

A message left on the cell phone of Ahsoak's attorney was not returned Tuesday.

In reports that began surfacing Monday, some of Ahsoak's victims and their parents expressed an interest in suing him since he won the lottery, saying the money should go to his victims instead of benefitting a convicted sex offender.

One victim, who was molested in the early 1990s while Ahsoak, a family friend, was staying at her home, said Tuesday she thinks Ahsoak should not have gotten the money, especially since the money benefits STAR. But it was out of her hands and she doesn't think she'll sue, said the woman.

"I'm in shock that happened. That's terrible," she said upon hearing of the attack. "I don't wish that on anybody. The only thing I wished for him is that he would get better. ... I just think it's crazy the way that everything happened."

[OUDoc]

And if'n Tanner kills me, my hypothetical wife deserves more than 250k just for loss of consortium. :D

Don't worry, I'll take care of your hypothetical wife.
On the house.

[Viking Kitten]

This thread has given me ideas for about 15 made-for-TV movies I could write.

[frankensooner]

It is sad when a life is only worth 250K You might also note that Malpractice premiums in Texas have not decreased in the slightest. It only benefits the Insurance Companies.

[Veritas]

The winner of the state's first half-million dollar lottery was severely beaten on a downtown street Tuesday afternoon by a man wielding a tire iron or metal pipe, according to Anchorage police....Ahsoak was convicted in 1993 of molesting two girls under the age of 13...
Sounds like he earned the beatdown.

[soonerbrat]

after taxes and donating $100K to the charity, he's not going to have enough left to buy a house and make his life better.

[frankensooner]

But think of all the kiddie pron he can buy. ewww

[Hot Rod]

"Please welcome to the stage, Alaska lottery winner and former 3 time convicted sex offender, Alec Ahsoak!"

[Frozen Sooner]

Sounds like he earned the beatdown.

15 years of justice rainin' down on ya there.

Looks like that $500k is going to come in handy for paying hospital bills. They've got the guy who did it in custody, but it looks like he's indigent.

[SoonerTerry]

... Nobody deserves to be a victim of any kind of violence, and that's our stand

I beg to differ Ms. Haag

[OUDoc]

Some do, in fact, deserve a beating.

[Frozen Sooner]

Don't worry, I'll take care of your hypothetical wife.
On the house.

Heh. That may be a new phrase for me-taking care of the hypothetical wife.