Press Release

Sex Offender Convicted of 2014 Anchorage Sexual Assault

May 23, 2016

On Friday, May 20, 2016, an Anchorage Superior Court jury convicted John Robert Douglas, age 30, of a single count of Sexual Assault in the Second Degree.

Douglas was arrested in mid-afternoon, on May 30, 2014, after he assaulted a woman in a downtown office building at 900 W. 5th Avenue. The woman was on her way to meet with caseworkers at the Office of Public Advocacy, which has offices in that building. The woman was alone and walking slowly. The woman had been partially disabled from injuries sustained in a previous serious motor vehicle collision.

Douglas entered an elevator with the woman, and waited until he was alone with her. Douglas then turned on the woman, grabbed her breasts and her pelvic area, and punched her in the head when she resisted. When the elevator doors opened to the first floor lobby, Douglas tried to pull her into a nearby stairwell. The woman screamed. Nearby office workers intervened and saved the woman.

Douglas broke off his attack, and fled on foot down I Street. Bystanders -- including one office worker who was described as an ultra-marathoner who was just returning from his afternoon training run -- pursued Douglas. Downtown security ambassadors joined the foot pursuit. Douglas was apprehended in the Court System parking garage at 3rd and I streets, and held until police arrived.

Douglas was convicted after a two-week trial. Douglas’s criminal history includes a 2005 Sexual Assault in Kotzebue. Sentencing is set for September 2, 2016 before Judge Michael Wolverton. Douglas faces a presumptive sentence of between 15 and 30 years in prison. He is being held without bail awaiting sentencing.

CONTACT: Assistant District Attorney James Fayette @ (907) 269-6300 at the Anchorage District Attorney’s Office.

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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.