Southwest Alaska teacher convicted of child sex abuse charges
Aug. 7—A 49-year-old former Southwest Alaska and Mat-Su teacher was convicted by a Bethel jury last week of more than a dozen felony charges including sexual abuse of a minor and sexual assault.
John Mark Hammonds was arrested in October 2021 after a student reported he assaulted her in his home and also asked her to undress in his classroom, according to court documents filed at the time. Hammonds was then an elementary school teacher and coach at the Akiachak School. The village is located along the Kuskokwim River northeast of Bethel.
Two of the charges also related to sex abuse of a minor that occurred in Wasilla during 2019, according to the state Department of Law.
After a three-week trial, the jury deliberated for just 2 1/2 hours before delivering the verdict, the agency said in a press release.
Hammonds, before working in Akiachak, taught at Knik Elementary School in Wasilla and had held teaching certificates in Alaska since 2014. He was previously a teacher in Nibley, Utah, and in California. He was not rehired at the Utah school after he was reprimanded by the state's Professional Practices Advisory Commission in 2014 for allegations of inappropriate behavior with female students.
Hammonds was convicted Friday on charges of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, first- and second-degree sexual assault, second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, enticement of a minor, and unlawful contact that occurred while Hammonds was incarcerated at Goose Creek Correctional Center.
The public defender who represented Hammonds could not be immediately reached on Monday. A message left for the Yupiit School District was not immediately returned.
