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Young Newtok Man Arrested For Sexual Assault

Newtok, Alaska on October 12, 2019.
Katie Basile
/
KYUK

An 18-year old Newtok man was arrested last week, and was charged with with three felony counts of sexual assault and sexual abuse of a minor that 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 sexually 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 the girl, documents say.

The girl woke up, demanded to know what he was doing, and demanded that he stop, which he did. Then she and her guardian went to the Newtok health clinic, where they reported the assault to the health aide, who 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. He told them he assaulted the girl because “I got bored.” Active said that the girl never expressed interest in having sex with him and that he knew she was underage, 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 three felony 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.