Crime & Courts

Anchorage woman accused of helping husband drug his sex assault victims won't be charged

A former Anchorage doctor who recently pleaded guilty to sexually abusing four girls for years said his wife helped him drug his victims, but prosecutors say they won't charge her.

Linda Merchant, the wife of Clifford Merchant, cooperated with the state from the outset of the investigation, said assistant district attorney in Palmer Brittany Dunlop.

"She provided more value to the case as a cooperating witness," Dunlop said. "Unfortunately, sometimes that has to be done to secure a conviction" of another defendant.

Clifford Merchant admitted as part of a plea deal that he abused four preteen girls for years. Merchant abused the girls at his home in South Anchorage and his cabin at Shell Lake, near Skwentna.

He was arrested in October 2014, several months after the abuse of three girls was discovered. It later came to light that there was a fourth victim and prosecutors added 18 new charges to his original indictment.

According to the plea deal, Merchant's abuse of the girls was often accomplished by pacifying them with drugs like Valium and Ambien.

"Linda Merchant would supply (the victim) with narcotic medication or sleeping pills … to secure her compliance," the agreement says.

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Dunlop said the district attorney's office agreed not to use any of Linda Merchant's testimony against her. Merchant denied participating in the abuse, Dunlop said.

"If there is new evidence that turned up, there is a chance she could be prosecuted, but right now I don't anticipate that," Dunlop said.

The Merchants are facing a lawsuit in civil court.

The victims' attorney, Jon-Marc Petersen, said the claims presented in their complaint rely heavily upon the criminal investigation into the couple. But the state was conservative in its approach of how much blame they placed on Linda Merchant, Petersen said.

"Obviously, her involvement in the abuse was significant," he said. "She's just as culpable."

The lawsuit was postponed due to Clifford Merchant's criminal charges, Petersen said. The case will move forward once he is sentenced on Aug. 19.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Linda Merchant admitted she gave her husband the drugs he used to abuse his victims. According to the Palmer district attorney's office, she denied the accusation.

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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