(Anchorage, AK) – On Oct. 23, 2026, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Andrew Peterson sentenced forty-five-year-old Andrew West James to serve 56 years for two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree and five counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree. An Anchorage jury convicted the defendant of the crimes on May 26, 2026.
In 2022, family members reported that James sexually assaulted them between 2015 and 2018. They also reported that James hid cameras in lights and electrical outlets and secretly recorded his family members while they were naked in the shower and in their bedrooms. After one family member attempted to report the sexual assaults in 2018, the family moved to Cambodia, Guatemala, Italy, and eventually settled in Louisiana. In July, 2022, the Anchorage Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested the defendant in Slidell, Louisiana. James was extradited from Louisiana back to Alaska.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Peterson noted that James had manipulated people and had taken advantage of young children for his own sexual gratification. In fashioning a sentence, Judge Peterson focused on deterrence, community condemnation, reaffirmation of societal norms, isolation, and protection of the public.
After serving his sentence, James will be on probation for fifteen years, and he is required to register as a sex offender for life.
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This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Erin E. White of the Anchorage District Attorney’s Office, with assistance from Paralegal Amelia Rhule and Law Office Assistant Olivia Stronach. The case was investigated by Detective Steve Czajkowski from the Anchorage Police Department’s Special Victims Unit (SVU), with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and APD Detective William Cameron. The victims had the support of advocates from Standing Together Against Rape (STAR).
CONTACT: Anchorage Assistant District Attorney Erin E. White at (907) 269-6300 or erin.white@alaska.gov.