Press Release

Lataushia Shajuan Blackmer Convicted of Scheme to Defraud and First-Degree Theft from Yukon-Koyukuk School District

August 7, 2025

(Fairbanks, AK) -- Today, Lataushia Shajuan Blackmer, 50, was convicted by a Fairbanks jury of one count of Scheme to Defraud and one count of First-Degree Theft for making fraudulent purchases with school district funds in 2018 and 2019.

Testimony in the trial revealed that in July 2018, Blackmer was hired as an administrative assistant in the grants department of the Yukon-Koyukuk School District in Fairbanks. She had a purchase card for procuring items for the school district and for some individual schools, but starting in September 2018, she began using it for a variety of personal purchases until she was terminated in June 2019. Employees of the school district became suspicious, due to a purchase of plane tickets for out of state for Ms. Blackmer and a friend, who was not employed by the district. Trial testimony indicated that approximately $35,000 was misappropriated by Ms. Blackmer during this approximately nine-month period, to include numerous purchases made on weekends or after hours, or while Ms. Blackmer was out of the office on personal or sick leave, including groceries, lingerie, beard oil and beauty products.

Retired Superior Court Judge Mark Wood presided over the trial, and scheduled sentencing for January 2026.

The Fairbanks District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. Fairbanks District Attorney Joe Dallaire said, “We thank the jury for their hard work and attention to detail in what was a case with voluminous documentary evidence and days of testimony, affording justice to Yukon-Koyukuk School District and the Interior Alaska community at large. The work done here by Senior Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Crail, Intern Aaron Schlenkert, Paralegals Mariana Rios and Jaboha Smothers, and the other numerous persons involved in these investigations represents the best of the Fairbanks District Attorney’s Office, and I am proud of their collaborative efforts to see justice prevail. We want to thank the FBI and former and current school district employees of the Yukon-Koyukuk School District who assisted with the investigation for their work in this case, and we look forward to preparing for sentencing.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case. “The defendant exploited her position of trust to steal public funds from a school system, which is not only a crime, but also a betrayal to students, teachers, and taxpayers,” said Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Day of the FBI Anchorage Field Office. “The FBI will continue to work with partners across all jurisdictions, including the Fairbanks District Attorney’s Office, to hold offenders accountable.”

CONTACT: District Attorney Joe Dallaire joe.dallaire@alaska.gov or Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Crail elizabeth.crail@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.