Press Release

Ekwok Man Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison for Assaulting His Mother

November 21, 2016

(ANCHORAGE, Alaska) On Monday, November 21, 2016, Dillingham Superior Court Judge Pat Douglass sentenced 46 year old Michael Kawaglia to spend 10 years in prison for assaulting his mother in September 2014. Kawaglia pled guilty to assault in the second degree, a class B felony, earlier this year.

On September 11, 2014, the Alaska State Troopers received a report from the Ekwok Health Aide that a woman had been assaulted by her son. The woman reported that her son had consumed a great deal of alcohol and then assaulted her while she was asleep in her home. The woman reported that Kawaglia assaulted her on the head, neck, and shoulders with a chair and then cut her on the arm with a bread knife.

Alaska State Troopers traveled to Ekwok and observed that the woman’s face was extremely swollen and bruised and she had a four inch laceration on her head. She also had a deep three inch laceration on her arm. She was found to have suffered a broken rib, internal bleeding on her skull and bruising across her body.

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Douglass found that Kawaglia was a worst offender. Kawaglia had 18 prior criminal convictions in Alaska, including 11 prior assault convictions. Judge Douglass followed the recommendation of Assistant District Attorney Pam Deal and imposed the ten year maximum sentence. Judge Douglas explained that it was the worst assault she had ever seen where the victim survived.

CONTACT: District Attorney Clint Campion at (907) 269-6300 or clint.campion@alaska.gov.

More information about the Anchorage District Attorney’s Office is available at http://alaska.gov/go/3W7J

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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.