A celebrated storyteller is facing felony charges for allegedly having sex with an underage boy. Forty-three year old Jack Dalton is charged with sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree and attempted sexual abuse. KTUU originally reported the case.
Charging documents say Dalton met the 14-year-old boy through Criagslist and had sex with him at the boy’s house. The boy’s mother contacted police after finding explicit messages and photos on his phone. An officer then contacted Dalton, pretending to be the boy. According to the police complaint, Dalton wrote back and asked the boy to meet him at his house. He acknowledged through text messages that he knew the boy was about 14 years old. On April 15, thinking he was meeting the boy, Dalton left his apartment and instead encountered police.
Dalton is known for work that explores Alaska Native culture and identity issues. He recently wrote and toured the state with his play “Assimilation,” which delved into the forced boarding school experience, trauma and its effect on culture. He also appeared in a play about sexual abuse of minors in rural Alaska.
Dalton discussed his career and its intersection with trauma and healing on Forum@360 in January, where he alluded to difficult experiences he had had growing up, too.
“And so, even though I, myself, I was adopted at 5 days old and grew up in Anchorage with a very kind, caring, loving middle class white family — still ended up dealing with many of the same issues that my other Native family members dealt with. Because of the traumas that, you know, my mother’s generation and the generation — my grandfather’s generation, and even earlier, had been dealing with since the arrival of westerners in Alaska.”
Assistant District Attorney Daniel Shorey says Dalton was released to his mother’s custody. Dalton has not entered a plea.
Anne Hillman is the healthy communities editor at Alaska Public Media and a host of Hometown, Alaska. Reach her at ahillman@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Anne here.
Rachel Waldholz covers energy and the environment for Alaska's Energy Desk, a collaboration between Alaska Public Media, KTOO in Juneau and KUCB in Unalaska. Before coming to Anchorage, she spent two years reporting for Raven Radio in Sitka. Rachel studied documentary production at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and her short film, A Confused War won several awards. Her work has appeared on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Marketplace, among other outlets.
rwaldholz (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8432 | About Rachel
Jeremy Hsieh is the deputy managing editor of the KTOO newsroom in Juneau. He’s a podcast fiend who’s worked in journalism since high school as a reporter, editor and television producer. He ran Gavel Alaska for 360 North from 2011 to 2016, and is big on experimenting with novel tools and mediums (including the occasional animated gif) to tell stories and demystify the news. Jeremy’s an East Coast transplant who moved to Juneau in 2008.
