Press Release

Attorney General Announces New DA for Fairbanks Office

April 21, 2015

Attorney General Craig Richards announced today that Greggory Olson has been appointed as the district attorney for the Fairbanks office. This position has been vacant since Michael Gray took over as the Bethel district attorney on April 1, 2015. Mr. Olson plans to transfer to his new position on June 1, 2015.

“I was impressed with Gregg’s eagerness to serve and his extensive experience with complex and difficult cases in his time at the Department of Law. Gregg’s eight years of experience as a police officer also brings a unique and helpful perspective to the job,” said Attorney General Richards.

Mr. Olson has worked for the Department of Law for over 15 years. His experience includes working as the district attorney in Bethel from 1999 to 2004, as an assistant district attorney in Sitka from 2004 to 2007, and most recently as an assistant attorney general in the rural prosecution unit for the Office of Special Prosecutions. The rural unit assists rural district attorney offices when they are short-staffed or when they need assistance on high-profile or complex cases.

In addition to his experience at the Department of Law, Mr. Olson worked approximately eight years as a police officer. Five of those years were spent with the North Slope Borough Police Department, where he worked his way up to deputy police chief. In this role, he supervised civilian and police staff in Alaska’s third largest police department. As the Fairbanks district attorney, Mr. Olson will supervise the North Slope Borough office. He also worked in the Bethel and Petersburg police departments.

When applying for the job, one of the areas Mr. Olson expressed an interest in was working with tribes and rural communities to more effectively administer justice throughout the state. In particular, Mr. Olson would like to advance the use of the civil diversion agreements to allow tribal courts an enhanced role at the local level.

“Working on solutions, such as the civil diversion agreement, to empower rural communities to have a part in the criminal justice system is one of my top priorities as attorney general,” said Attorney General Richards. “I appreciate Gregg’s support of this agreement and his future involvement in helping make these types of locally-based solutions a reality.”

For more information, contact Deputy Attorney General Richard Svobodny at 465-3600 or richard.svobodny@alaska.gov.

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Department Media Contacts: Communications Director Patty Sullivan at patty.sullivan@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6368. Information Officer Sam Curtis at sam.curtis@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6269.