17-year-old held on rape charges

PALMER — A 17-year-old boy is facing sexual assault charges in adult court after Alaska State Troopers say he raped a 15-year-old girl while she babysat for a family friend.

According to an affidavit Alaska State Trooper Toma Caldarea filed in court, Nathaniel Lebaron, 17, is from Mexico. He was in Alaska visiting his brother when the rape allegations were made May 7.

Troopers say the girl was babysitting for Lebaron’s brother on May 5 when Lebaron arrived at the house. They kissed, which she told troopers she thought was OK.

Later, he asked her upstairs and that, she said, is when he raped her. She told him “no” more than once, but he continued, only stopping when his brother and sister-in-law arrived home.

The girl said she didn’t tell anyone and just went home, but later talked about it with friends who encouraged her to report it, which she did at school the following Monday.

On May 8, troopers recorded a phone call between the girl and Lebaron.

“Nathaniel apologized to (the girl) for him touching her. Nathaniel acknowledged that she in fact told him ‘no’ and to ‘stop’ touching her,” Calderea wrote.

Lebaron also asked the girl several times to hang out or watch a movie with him and told her he’d never do anything like he did on May 5.

Lebaron was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility charged with four counts of first-degree sexual assault. As a so-called unclassified felony, one such count carries a potential penalty of up to 99 years in prison.

Lebaron’s bail was set at $100,000 and he was ordered to find a third party to watch him before a judge will allow him out of jail. As of Friday afternoon, he was still listed as an inmate at Mat-Su Pre-Trial.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or

andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.