Yesterday (March 5th, 2024), retired Superior Court Judge Nelson Traverso sentenced 50-year-old John Hammonds of Akiachak to serve 86 years of incarceration after being convicted of one count of Sexual Abuse of a Minor in the First Degree, three counts of Sexual Abuse of a Minor in the Second Degree, and one count each of Enticement and Unlawful Contact.
Hammonds was convicted of these crimes after a three-week jury trial held in Bethel in July and August of 2023. Judge Traverso sentenced Hammonds to a composite sentence of 111 years with 25 years suspended. Judge Traverso also placed Hammonds on probation for a period of 15 years following his release from jail, and imposed numerous probation conditions, including sex offender treatment. Hammonds will be required to register quarterly as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Hammonds was an elementary school teacher at the Akiachak school and a self-proclaimed pastor in the village. The convictions relate to four separate instances of sexual abuse involving two victims, which occurred in Wasilla in November 2019 and Akiachak in August and October 2021. The abuse in Akiachak occurred in his home as well as in a school classroom.
At trial, the evidence showed that Hammonds modified his home to create a peephole in his bathroom door. Multiple children reported that Hammonds required children who came to his home for sleepovers with his daughter to bathe together. The evidence at trial also included multiple other children who testified about sleepovers at Hammonds’ residence in which he would touch them on their legs or backs, or place them on his lap.
The jury heard that Hammonds blackmailed one 11-year-old victim into silence about the sexual abuse. Hammonds also used religion and a “revelation from God” to justify his actions. During the course of the investigation Hammonds’ cell phone was searched and a significant amount of child sexual erotic reading material was located.
The parents of the two victims spoke at sentencing. One victim’s parent told the court that the assault has had a significant impact on her daughter, including negatively impacting her schoolwork and creating a lack of trust for people in positions of authority.
The other victim’s parent asked for a lengthy sentence, stating that Hammonds’ continued incarceration is the largest factor to the victim’s recovery and saying that a lengthy sentence would allow her daughter to feel safe and secure in order to heal from the abuse.
At the sentencing hearing, Assistant Attorney General Bailey Woolfstead requested that Judge Traverso sentence Hammonds to a composite sentence of 129 years to serve. Ms. Woolfstead argued that the power dynamic of Hammonds and his students, the overt actions taken by Hammonds to blackmail and silence the victim leading up to and in the wake of the abuse, the defendant’s significant and ongoing sexual interest in children as seen in his internet history, the defendant’s complete lack of remorse, and the significant impact his actions had on the victims’ lives merited a strong sentence.
Ms. Woolfstead argued Hammonds should be considered a worst offender, stating “Hammonds engaged in a targeted campaign of manipulation against both children, utilizing his position of power and authority over each of them in several ways. He blackmailed them, weaponized religion against them, weaponized prior trauma he knew [one victim] had suffered in order to manipulate her to comply with his abuse.”
Ms. Woolfstead noted the significant impact Hammonds’ abuse had on each victim and applauded the bravery it took for the children to come forward and report the abuse and to testify at trial.
Hammonds’ lawyers, Nathaniel Hainje and Bridget Lynn, asked the court to find two mitigating factors, first, that some of the offenses were the least serious offense, and second, that a sentence within the presumptive range would be manifestly unjust. The court declined to find either mitigating factor. The defense then requested the court impose a composite sentence of 40 years and 4 days, the mandatory minimum possible sentence, to serve. Hainje argued that Hammonds’ prior behavior on probation supervision merited the lower sentence.
Judge Traverso found that four aggravating factors applied to the case, including that Hammonds 1) knew or reasonably should have known that the victims of the offenses were particularly vulnerable, 2) that the crime was committed against a household member as to one of the victims, 3) that the defendant was 10 or more years older than both victims, and 4) that the defendant has a criminal history involving aggravated assault.
In handing down the sentence, Judge Traverso noted that Hammonds’ offenses took significant planning. He also noted that Hammonds’ behavior was the culmination of a sustained sexual interest in children over a period of time, and that he has caused significant harm to his victims.
Judge Traverso found Hammonds had low prospects for rehabilitation due to the manipulation of multiple minors, as well as his actions in the aftermath of the abuse in the way he engaged with others in the community in an effort to discredit one of the victims when she reported, as well as his attempts to contact the victim prior to trial.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Bailey Woolfstead of the Office of Special Prosecutions’ Rural Prosecution Unit, with assistance from Paralegal Bethany Kaiser of the Bethel District Attorney’s Office. The case involved significant investigation by Alaska State Trooper Coby Sutton. The Tundra Women’s Coalition provided crucial support, including child forensic interviewer Amber Chung, who conducted interviews of nine children at the Child Advocacy Center, and several advocates who provided advocacy services to the victims and child witnesses and their families during trial and sentencing.
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