On Aug. 4, 2023, following a three-week trial, a Bethel jury found elementary school teacher John Mark Hammonds guilty of 14 counts of sexual felonies.
Hammonds, 49, was an elementary school teacher and coach at the Akiachak school while also acting as a self-proclaimed pastor in the village of Akiachak in southwest Alaska in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
The convictions relate to two victims. The jury convicted Hammonds of the 12 counts that occurred when he was teaching in 2021. Two additional counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree relate to sexual abuse that occurred in Wasilla in November 2019 and one misdemeanor count occurred while in custody.
The 15 counts include:
two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree
one count of sexual assault in the first degree
eight counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree
two counts of sexual assault in the second degree
one count of enticement of a minor
one count of unlawful contact, a misdemeanor, while in custody at Goose Creek Correctional Center
A Bethel jury heard from 32 witnesses throughout the three-week trial and deliberated for two and a half hours before returning the verdict. At trial, witnesses from a variety of disciplines testified, including three child forensic interviewers, two nurse practitioners, seven teachers and/or administrators, and four Alaska State Troopers. The jury also heard from six children and their parents.
The case was investigated by the Alaska State Troopers. Assistant Attorney General Bailey Woolfstead of the Office of Special Prosecutions’ Rural Prosecution Unit prosecuted the matter along with Paralegal Bethany Kaiser of the Bethel District Attorney’s Office. Alaska State Trooper Coby Sutton, the investigating case officer, aided throughout the trial. After the verdict, Hammonds was remanded pursuant to statute and is being held without bail pending sentencing, which is scheduled for Jan. 19, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. Hammonds faces a sentencing range from 40 years and 5 days to 595 years.
