Alaska News

Bail hearing for Homer brothers accused of sexual assault rescheduled

HOMER, Alaska -- District Court Judge Daniel Schally on Monday continued a bail hearing for Anthony Resetarits, 20, and his brother Joseph Resetarits, 18. The hearing will be held at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Homer Courthouse.

The brothers were arrested Thursday and charged with one count each of second-degree sexual assault, penetration of an incapacitated person. In charging documents, Alaska State Troopers allege that Anthony Resetarits, who was arrested in Anchorage, and Joseph Resetarits, who was arrested in Homer, used an object to sexually assault an extremely drunk 17-year-old boy at a teenage and young adult drinking party in Homer on Sept. 8.

Wearing handcuffs and dressed in a Homer Mariners football team hooded sweatshirt with his name on the back, Joseph Resetarits attended Monday's bail hearing. His mother and family friends sat in the back of the courtroom.

He played this season for the Homer Mariners football team, but was removed from the team the day of his arrest, said Homer High School Principal Allan Gee.

Anthony Resetarits attended by phone from the Anchorage Jail courtroom. Also attending by phone from elsewhere were the public defender for both men, Bill Taylor, and John Skidmore, director of the criminal division, central office, Alaska Department of Law, as well as Judge Schally.

Skidmore asked that the hearing be rescheduled because most Alaska district attorneys were attending an annual conference in Anchorage Monday. Taylor protested, saying that the district attorney's office should have staff present for hearings that were scheduled. Taylor said he had filed bail hearings for both defendants last week. In reviewing court filings, Schally determined that a bail hearing request for Joseph Resetarits was stamped at 2:57 p.m. Friday and for Anthony Resetarits at 8:08 a.m. Monday. Because of the short notice for Anthony Resetarits, and because he wanted bail hearings held together for both men, Schally rescheduled it for Tuesday.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Homer Court by Sgt. Jeremy Stone last week, on Sept. 10 troopers received a report from a South Peninsula Hospital nurse that a 17-year-old boy had been sexually assaulted at a large juvenile drinking party Sept. 8 and early Sept. 9 at an East End Road home. The boy arrived at the party about 10 p.m. Sept. 8 and eventually passed out on a couch in the living room.

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The father of the boy who started the party and the owner of the home where it happened told troopers he went to sleep in his bedroom near to the living room before the party started and did not know any juveniles drank alcohol until the next morning when he found alcohol containers. The party grew from a few invited friends to about 60 to 80 people, including members of the Homer High School Mariners football team, members of other Homer High teams, Homer High alumni and other people.

Fourteen Homer High School student athletes who were at the party were suspended from activities the week of Oct. 10 for violating Alaska Student Activities Association rules for being at a party where alcohol was served.

Troopers allege that while the boy was passed out, multiple people wrote on the boy's body with a marker while others took videos and photographs. Stone wrote that Anthony Resetarits shaved an "M" into the boy's hair. Another boy tried to wake up the drunk boy, but he remained unresponsive.

After Anthony Resetarits allegedly shaved the boy's head, people around the drunk boy shouted out suggestions about what to do next. An unidentified person suggested an obscene act. Anthony Resetarits sexually assaulted object the boy with an object, with Joseph Resetarits also participating, Stone wrote in the complaint.

Troopers recovered multiple photographs taken at the party, including one of two men sexually assaulting the boy. The boy who took the photo identified the Resetarits brothers as the men in the photo, Stone wrote.

The party broke up shortly after the incident and the unconscious boy was taken to his mother.

Trooper spokesperson Beth Ipsen said the incident remains under investigation and further charges could be filed in adult or juvenile court depending on where the investigation leads.

This story first appeared in the Homer News. Contact Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.

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