Newtok man tells troopers he assaulted girl because he “got bored”

Newtok is a small community of about 380 people. (KATIE BASILE / KYUK)

An 18-year old Newtok man was arrested last week, charged with with sexual assault and sexual abuse of a minor for an assault troopers say happened in the community in November 2019. 

Pedro John Mark Active was arrested on May 1, five months after a 15-year-old girl reported that he assaulted her while she slept on November 3, 2019.

Charging documents say that Active spent the night at the girl’s guardian’s house in Newtok that night. Active was romantically involved with the girl’s guardian at the time. The girl was sleeping on the couch when Active left the guardian’s bedroom and assaulted her, documents say.

The girl woke up, demanded to know what he was doing, and told him to stop, which he did. Then she and her guardian went to the Newtok health clinic, where they reported the assault to the health aide. The aide called the Alaska State Troopers .

The troopers interviewed Active about the incident at the Newtok school where he was a high school student at the time. When asked why he did it, he told them, “I got bored,” charging documents say. Active said that the girl never expressed interest in having sex with him and that he knew she was a minor, according to the charging documents. 

Troopers asked for an arrest warrant in November, but didn’t arrest Active until May. Starting in January 2020, Active interned at the KYUK radio station in Bethel before returning home to Newtok because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Active was arraigned on May 2 in Bethel on charges of sexual assault in the first degree, sexual assault in the second degree, and second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. His bail is set at $50,000. His next court hearing is set for June 10.

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