Crime & Justice

Bethel man gets 55 years for sexually abusing a dozen girls

BETHEL -- A Bethel janitor and father who preyed on the friends of his daughters and on children he targeted in the commercial building where he worked will likely spend the rest of his life in prison for sexually abusing a dozen girls.

In an emotional, gut-wrenching hearing, Daniel Kashatok, now 67, was sentenced Monday to serve 55 years in prison, with another 10 years suspended. He didn't testify but jotted notes and at one point teared up.

Relatives of several victims urged the judge to make sure Kashatok never gets out of jail. Some said they would pray for him. They spoke of their daughters, of deep damage and healing not yet done, of a victim who died drinking.

"In some countries, Mr. Kashatok, for the heinous crime that you've committed, some of those offenders die in front of the firing squad. I don't think we're that inhumane," one father said. "I will pray for you. That's all I can do." He said he hoped Kashatok would "think about these things, and work through them."

Kashatok pleaded guilty in November to two consolidated counts -- one charge of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor and one charge of attempted second-degree sexual abuse -- that wrapped in all 12 victims and spared them the pain of a trial. He had faced 22 charges for abuse that occurred over a five-year span, from 2006 to 2011, according to a criminal complaint. But sentencing was left open.

Bethel Superior Court Judge Charles Ray went beyond the recommendation of District Attorney Michael Gray, who had sought a sentence of 50 years.

Kashatok was accused of touching girls' breasts or genitals and once of making a girl touch him. Certainly some sexual abuse cases involve worse behavior, Ray said. But the number of victims and the damage to them, their families and the Western Alaska hub of Bethel makes the case stand out, the judge said.

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"I've never, ever seen this many kids involved in one incident from one deranged perpetrator," Ray said. He said he saw no possibility of Kashatok being rehabilitated.

Kashatok's lawyer, Heather O'Brien of Anchorage, said he grew up in rough circumstances and took responsibility for what he did. While he has an earlier sexual offense on his record, it happened about 30 years ago. At his age, any sentence within the range provided for in law "is a life sentence," she said, and asked for the minimum.

For much of the time of the abuse, he was raising his own girls as a single father. The mother of some of his daughters now is in prison herself, for killing her boyfriend in 2012.

Some victims were friends with his daughters and came to his home for sleepovers. Other molestations happened at his workplace. He was a janitor in the Bethel Native Corp. complex in Bethel's town center. A separate civil suit against Bethel Native Corp. by some of the families was settled last year.

Another father said his daughter was just 9 years old, a fourth-grader, when Kashatok lured her into a secluded stairwell at the corporation building in 2008. He said he didn't want to give too many details out of concern Kashatok would take perverted pleasure in hearing them.

One mother who testified Monday sobbed so hard her words were hard to hear. Her daughter was molested in 2007, and then went on to struggle with drinking and drugs. She died suddenly in Bethel in 2012, when she was 16, her mother said in an earlier interview. Police told the family it was alcohol poisoning, the mother said.

Her daughter didn't tell her about the abuse right away, she said in court.

"She was afraid his daughter would beat her up," the mother said, speaking through a wave of tears. "If she had not been sexually abused by Mr. Kashatok, she'd be here today."

He took advantage of young girls who were innocent and loving, and changed them forever, the parents told the judge.

"It hurts. It hurts. It put a void in my life. Sixteen-year-old girl to die," the mother said.

Kashatok won't qualify for early release for good behavior. The offenses are not eligible for "good time" credits, Gray said.

"This is something that happened to 12 really innocent kids," Ray said.

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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