A registered sex offender has been jailed on charges that he sexually assaulted a woman in the back of a Community Service Patrol van while staff left the public-assistance vehicle to fetch another rider.
Alfred B. Allen, 43, is charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault. He is listed on the state's Sex Offender Registry with three previous convictions for attempted sexual assault, including two in Kotzebue, in 1993 and 1995, and one in Anchorage, in 2002.
A database compiled from public records also shows police have arrested Allen numerous times for petty crimes such as shoplifting, theft and trespassing.
The more recent assault occurred Wednesday afternoon. According to police, Allen, 43, boarded a Community Service Patrol van at an undetermined location. The distinct, boxy white vehicles make rounds around town, trolling or aiming for people who are intoxicated. Once taken aboard, individuals either are delivered to a hospital or go to a transfer station downtown where EMTs can provide shelter and medical care.
The victim in Wednesday's incident, an intoxicated woman, was also a van passenger. It is unknown whether she or Allen boarded first or how many other passengers were inside.
An employee who answered a phone at the Community Service Patrol office Thursday night said no one was available to answer questions or provide further information.
The van stopped at the Alaska Native Medical Center to pick up another passenger and the staff left the van, said Lt. Paul Honeman, a police department spokesman.
Witnesses told police that during this time, the 49-year-old victim was heavily intoxicated and had "passed out," unaware of the assault by Allen, Honeman said. Police were called about 3:10 p.m. to the Community Service Patrol's Third Avenue office to investigate.
Several witnesses apparently saw the assault occur and shared information with police.
Honeman didn't know whether the Community Service Patrol had a policy about leaving passengers unattended.
"They have a large van capable of carrying multiple people and they may have to leave someone inside to help another, whether it's for a few minutes or more," Honeman said. "The guy who committed the sexual assault committed a sexual assault and he didn't have any right. There's no excuse for that. A person could say they might have been passed out in public when no one is monitoring them at all and the same thing could have happened."
Allen "took advantage of an opportunity" while the patrol van was "trying to help intoxicated people off the streets so they won't get victimized," Honeman said.
Allen was taken to the Anchorage jail with bail set at $50,000 cash only. His arraignment is scheduled for 3 p.m. today at the Anchorage Jail Court.
Under Alaska State Statutes, a second-degree sexual assault charge means an individual engages "in sexual penetration with a person who they know is mentally incapable, incapacitated or unaware that a sexual act is being committed."
This crime is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, or up to 99 years if prior sex offense history exists. Those tougher sentencing laws went into effect earlier this year, Honeman said.
"It's along the line of the three strikes, you're out," he added.
Details of Allen's previous sex assault cases were unavailable Thursday night.
Allen also faces a fine of up to $100,000.
Purcell Securities, of Nana Management Services, manages Community Service Patrol, and the city's Department of Health and Human Services oversees the contract. The current program started in 2001 after the city terminated its 10-year contract with Allvest Human Services, when a man, apparently still drunk, was hit by a car minutes after leaving the center.
Community Service Patrol has faced scrutiny in the past: In October 2005, a van driver punched a drunken 32-year-old man in the face so violently the passenger needed stitches. And in December, an inebriated man at the sleep-off center went unchecked and died.
Daily News reporter Katie Pesznecker can be reached at kpesznecker@adn.com.
