Couple arrested

for sexual assault

By STEVE KADEL-Frontiersman reporter

PALMER -- A husband and wife from Wasilla were arrested Jan. 11 for first-degree sexual assault and lodged at Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility with bail set at $100,000 apiece.

Jack C. Lacy, 34, and Janet M. Lacy, 32, are charged in the alleged sexual assault of a juvenile. Jack Lacy is also charged with incest.

"This is a male juvenile who is related to him," said Ruth Josten, a Wasilla Police Department child abuse investigator. "It came to our attention through the mother who picked up her son's cell phone and heard a message that was inappropriate."

The mother, who is not Janet Lacy, had no idea what was happening and it was simply a lucky break that she overheard the message, Josten said.

Jack Lacy stands accused of having made the sexual assault and Janet Lacy is accused of being an accomplice, Josten said. It's likely the boy didn't report what was happening because he felt shameful, she said.

"There's a large amount of shame in cases like this where someone had duped you into something," Josten said. "It started on the pretext of sexually educating the boy.

"You see manipulative cases like this and investigators call it a grooming period, where a degree of trust is built with the victim. It came to the point there was an actual sexual assault."

The child is in counseling, Josten said.

The arrests culminated a lengthy investigation by the Child Abuse Investigation Unit that operates out of Wasilla Police Department and is funded through a federal Byrne grant. The unit investigates allegations of sexual abuse and physical abuse of minors in the Mat-Su Borough. It consists of Josten and an investigator from the Alaska State Troopers, in addition to Palmer Police Department in a cooperative effort.

First-degree sexual assault is an unclassified felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a $75,000 fine, troopers said. Incest is a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.