API loses ‘Jesus Christ' at Alaska State Fair

Sept. 3, 2006

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

PALMER - The Alaska Psychiatric Institute lost a patient at the state fair on Aug. 29 during a therapeutic outing, so staff called Palmer police to help find the man who calls himself “Jesus Christ.”

“They gave us the information that he was a sexual offender,” said Kelly Turney, a Palmer police detective on duty at the time.

The man is not listed on the Alaska Sex Offender Registry, but he is from out of state, Turney said. The call also stated the man, who calls himself Jesus Christ, had a special medical condition.

“He would get drunk drinking water,” Turney said.

Dr. Duane Hopson, medical director at API, said he had no information the wandering patient had any history as a sexual predator. The patient was one of four who traveled to the fair with two staff members as part of a rehabilitation program, he said.

“We are very focused on recovery-based treatment, which includes structured outings,” Hopson said. “Recreational therapists and occupational therapists try to get them out.”

At some point in the afternoon on the fairgrounds, the patient turned left when the caretaker turned right, Hopson said.

“People will elope, and sometimes evade,” he said. “We were surprised he did leave.”

API has a whole set of policies and procedures in place for such circumstances, he said. The staff notified fair security, called Palmer police and sent more staff out to the fair.

“They looked all over the fairgrounds,” Hopson said. “They couldn't find him, so they called the police. They had other patients.”

The two staff members drove three patients back to API, and more staff came out to Palmer, he said.

Meanwhile, Palmer police brought the patient back to the lobby of the station, which also is the lobby of Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility, to wait. At 7 p.m., he was still there, and no one from API was around. He walked away from the lobby about 7:30 p.m., and police returned him.

According to Lt. Tom Remaley and Turney, API staff requested an officer return the patient to API. Remaley said he heard that API staff made the same request of Alaska State Troopers.

Hopson said he wasn't aware of any such requests, and couldn't comment on the amount of time the patient was left in the care of Palmer police.

API stopped all therapeutic passes while staff reviews its “internal mechanism of improvement,” Hopson said.

“It wasn't a bad outcome,” he said. “But it could have been.”

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.