A Palmer man is facing numerous charges, with more state and federal counts expected, after he allegedly sexually abused two girls in the late 1990s and fraudulently stole his late brother's identity, Alaska State Troopers say.
Troopers said in a Wednesday dispatch that the case against 59-year-old James E. Peters began Dec. 15, when members of the Mat-Su Child Abuse Investigation Unit received "a report from a mother that two of her daughters had been sexually abused" about 18 years ago.
Last week, a Palmer court issued an arrest warrant for Peters on 10 first-degree and two second-degree counts of sexual abuse of a minor, as well as two counts of incest. None of the charges involve the alleged identity theft.
"During the investigation it was discovered that Peters has been using the identity of his deceased brother Raleigh E. Peters (died in 1952 at the age of 1) for approximately the past 30 years, in an attempt to avoid paying child support in the state of California," troopers wrote.
Troopers said Peters obtained Alaska and California driver's licenses under both his own name and Raleigh's. He also paid taxes under Raleigh's name for 30 years, using a Social Security number he applied for as Raleigh.
"The California Department of Revenue has been notified of the new information," troopers wrote. "An investigator with (the) Alaska Permanent Fund Division has opened an investigation into Peters collecting dividends for the past several years using Raleigh's identity. Additional state and federal charges are likely."
Members of U.S. Marshals' Fugitive Task Force arrested Peters at his Anchorage workplace on Tuesday. He was taken to the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility, where he was held on the warrant's bail of $75,000 with a court-approved third-party custodian required for his release.