Former jailer convicted of child sex abuse

PALMER — A former corrections officer pleaded guilty Friday to one count of sexual abuse of a minor.

Joel Larson, 58, offered short, one- or two-word answers to the questions he was asked in Superior Court in Palmer. His attorney, Sidney Billingslea told the judge that the agreement reached calls for eight to 12 years of prison time.

Asked how he pleaded, Larson answered, “No contest.”

“I don’t think you can do that,” Judge Vanessa White replied.

The District Attorney’s office in Palmer only accepts guilty pleas in plea-bargained cases. After conferring with his attorney, Larson agreed to a guilty plea, was handcuffed and eventually led away to jail to await his sentencing hearing.

Larson was arrested in early September. According to charging documents filed at the time, the allegations against him first surfaced in October of 2006 when the victim in the case — then 15 — came forward to say Larson had sexually abused her since she was 11 or 12.

The girl later recanted her allegations. The Wasilla Police officer assigned the case, Rick Manrique, wrote in an affidavit he filed in court that the girl said she recanted after her mother urged her to do so in order “to save the family.”

The girl was prosecuted and convicted for filing a false report.

In August of last year, after a gathering in which attendees expressed great admiration for Larson, the girl decided she’d had enough and re-asserted her claims, Manrique wrote.

After a series of taped conversations between Larson and the girl, Manrique wrote, Larson was arrested.

In exchange for his plea, the remaining counts against Larson — a first-degree sexual abuse of a minor charge and five second-degree sexual abuse of a minor charges — will be dismissed.

State law currently sets the penalty for the first-degree sexual abuse of a minor charge Larson pleaded guilty to at 25 to 30 years in prison. But since Larson committed his crimes before the state legislature increased the penalties, he is to be sentenced under the old rubric of 8-12 years.

White set Larson’s sentencing date for Nov. 16 at 1:30 p.m.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.