Man convicted of sexually abusing stepdaughters

WASILLA — A Palmer jury on Monday convicted a former Mat-Su resident of sexually abusing his stepdaughters over a period of several years.

Anthony Giliam, 52, of Idaho, was convicted on 22 counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor and three counts of coercion. After a trial that lasted a week, jurors convicted him on all charges.

According to assistant district attorney Melissa Wininger-Howard, Gilliam abused the girls over a period of several years while they were living in both Alaska and Idaho. The abuse began when one of the girls was 9-years-old and the other was 11. Wininger-Howard said much of the abuse took place between September, 2001 and October, 2007 in Wasilla. She one of the women reported the abuse in 2013 and the other came forward in 2014.

After the allegations emerged, an investigation was launched by the Alaska Bureau of Investigation and the Mat-Su Child Abuse Investigation Unit, and eventually the Ashton (Idaho) Police Department and the Freemont County (Idaho) Sheriff’s Department assisted in conducting interviews and serving search warrants on Mr. Gilliam’s residence in Idaho. An arrest warrant was issued in Palmer Superior Court on May 16, 2014, and Gilliam was eventually arrested and extradited to Alaska.

Wininger-Howard said Gilliam used physical violence to coerce his stepdaughters into the abuse. She said he also forced the victims to videotape some of the crimes.

On Tuesday, she praised the young women for speaking up.

“I commend the victims for having the courage to come forward and for the bravery they displayed when confronting their abuser during their testimony,” Wininger-Howard wrote.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 29 at 11 a.m. in Palmer Court. Wininger-Howard said his sentence will depend on the presumptive range for each count.

“That is dependent on the defendant’s prior convictions and the offense dates,” she wrote.

Each of the sexual abuse of a minor charges are unclassified felonies punishable by up to 99 years in prison; the coercion charges are Class C felonies punishable by up to five years each.

Before the allegations of abuse surfaced, Gilliam had two previous felony convictions in Alaska, one for drugs misconduct out of Palmer in 1994 and another out of Glennallen for burglary in 2000.