Man charged with 11 felonies involving two minors

PALMER — Following a Grand jury investigation, a 53-year old Houston man has been charged with 11 felony counts involving sexual abuse of a minor. He appeared in Palmer District Court on Wednesday.

James Harold Moore was present before Judge Vanessa White for bail hearing on 10 unclassified felony counts and one Class B felony count stemming from numerous alleged incidents taking place between 2013-2016 involving two female minors. Court records state one was under the age of 13 and one under the age of 16 at the time police allege the incidents occurred.

The grand jury issued the charges Aug. 25, following a police complaint filed Aug. 20. Moore, arrested by Alaska State Troopers Aug. 19, appeared before White on a scheduled bail hearing. Because Moore had filed the initial bail-hearing request on his own behalf, White offered him a chance to re-file the document after he retained his public defender.

Although Moore told the court his 2016 salary to date was approximately $40,000, above the earned wages guidelines qualifications for a public defender, he told White that he was no longer employed as a result of the allegations. Both he and the judge agreed that if granted bail, the filed charges would make it very difficult to find employment.

Moore’s next scheduled court appearance is Friday, Oct. 14 at 9 a.m. in District Court for a pre-trial conference before Judge David Zwink.

He also has scheduled 8:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 24 trial status hearing. Moore was remanded back to the Mat-Su Pretrial facility pending the outcome of his bail hearing.

Contact reporter Chris Ford at 352-2270 or chris.ford@frontiersman.com