Alaska News

Prosecutors want sex assault suspect's bail raised to $50,000

Prosecutors are seeking to raise the bail amount for a cab driver accused of sexual assault of a passenger.

Assistant district attorney Brittany Dunlop is seeking $50,000 bail and a court-appointed third party custodian.

Chidiebere Nwokorie, 43, was released on $5,000 bail after his arrest Aug. 21 on three charges, including first-degree sexual assault, for what police say was an attack on a woman in secluded area.

The set bail amount, and lack of any requirement for him to be monitored by a third party, led to a public outcry, Dunlop said in a bail memorandum filed in court.

"Since the setting of bail in this case, the District Attorney's Office and Standing Together Against Rape (STAR) have received numerous calls from concerned citizens, some of whom use taxi cabs in Anchorage regularly and have expressed their fear and outrage over the low setting of bail, with no conditions that restrict the defendant's contact with the public," Dunlop wrote.

The community outrage is justified considering the defendant faces 20 years in prison if convicted, yet only had to put up $500 cash, the memo said. The bondsman who guaranteed the bail said Nwokorie also had to put up collateral.

A court hearing is set for 9 a.m. Wednesday but it's not clear if the bail will be addressed then or at a separate bail hearing later that day, Dunlop said Monday.

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By LISA DEMER

ldemer@adn.com

Lisa Demer

Lisa Demer was a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch News. Among her many assignments, she spent three years based in Bethel as the newspaper's western Alaska correspondent. She left the ADN in 2018.

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