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State Files Two New Charges Against Former Bethel Principal Chris Carmichael; Carmichael In Custody

The Bethel District Attorney's Office has filed two new charges against former principal Chris Carmichael for two counts of sexual assault of a minor in the second degree.
Lower Kuskokwim School District

The Bethel District Attorney’s Office has filed new criminal charges against former Bethel principal Christopher Carmichael, and he is now being held in custody in Anchorage. On April 13, Carmichael was arraigned in state court on two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree. The charges are based on incidents from 2017 and 2018, when Carmichael was the principal at Gladys Jung Elementary School. 

The first charge is from 2018, when Bethel Police received a report that Carmichael touched the breast of an 11-year-old girl while she was holding Carmichael’s office door open for him. No charges were filed when the incident was initially reported on Feb. 12, 2018, but the Bethel District Attorney’s office reopened the case after Carmichael’s arrest in December 2019. 

The second charge is for Carmichael touching a different underage girl around the same time. In June 2019, Bethel police received a report that Carmichael had touched a seventh grade girl’s breasts and thighs between 2017 and 2018. The charges stated that he would take the girl into a closet or his office to avoid the view of cameras, and he would do this every Friday after school for almost a year.

Carmichael was arraigned April 13 in Anchorage on the new state charges. He is currently being held in custody in Anchorage on bail set at $250,000. Prior to these recent charges, he was residing at a transitional living facility in Anchorage on pretrial release. Carmichael's next federal court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 5.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that Chris Carmichael was currently residing at a transitional living facility in Anchorage. He is actually now being held in custody with bail set at $250,000. 

 

Greg Kim was a news reporter for KYUK from 2019-2022.