Fairbanks

Fairbanks council endorses new mayor’s choice for police chief

Fairbanks is on track to receive a new police chief, as the city's newly elected mayor moves to replace the chief who stepped down amid a conflict-of-interest investigation in October.

KUAC reported that the Fairbanks City Council on Monday unanimously endorsed current Deputy Chief Eric Jewkes as chief after Mayor Jim Matherly's recommendation. Matherly had also considered the acting chief, Brad Johnson, for the position.

Jewkes will replace Randall Aragon, the chief under previous mayor John Eberhart, who resigned effective Oct. 28. Aragon was placed on administrative leave — and was reinstated by Eberhart, then placed back on leave by Matherly — during an investigation of claims that Aragon tried to parlay a business owner's request for a police security sweep into a $600 job for his private security-consulting firm.

Jewkes will take over a department that has faced traumatic events in recent months, including the Oct. 16 fatal shooting of Sgt. Allen Brandt. A suspect, 29-year-old Anthony George Jenkins-Alexie, faces murder charges in Brandt's death.

On Nov. 25, 22-year-old McKay Hutton was found dead in a room at a Hampton Inn in Fairbanks along with the bodies of his wife, 22-year-old Emily McDonald, their 8-week-old daughter, Teagan Hutton, and McKay's mother, 54-year-old Linda Hutton. Police believe McKay Hutton shot his relatives and then himself, in a murder-suicide first discovered by his father — former Fairbanks police officer Al Hutton.

Chris Klint

Chris Klint is a former ADN reporter who covered breaking news.

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