'Pilgrim' indicted for incest

Sept. 27, 2005

MARY AMES\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - A Palmer grand jury last week indicted a member of the so-called Pilgrim family on charges of kidnapping, incest, sexual assault, coercion and assault, according to a release from Alaska State Troopers.

An arrest warrant was issued Friday morning for Robert Allen Hale, 64, who renamed himself Papa Pilgrim when he moved to Alaska sometime in the 1990s. Troopers looked for Hale over the weekend in and around McCarthy and now believe he has moved out of that immediate area.

The 30-count indictment included 10 counts of first-degree sexual assault, one count of kidnapping, eight counts of incest, eight counts of coercion and one count each of first-, second- and third-degree assault.

Hale is described by troopers as a white man who is about 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing about 195 pounds.

When last seen, Hale had gray hair and beard and hazel eyes. He is believed to be driving a navy-blue 1990 Dodge Ram Charger camper van, with the license number EPN 405. The trooper report described the van as the kind with a slightly raised roof.

According to their release, troopers received information over Labor Day weekend that led to a probe by the Alaska Bureau of Investigation. The alleged offenses took place over the last eight years, the release stated, but troopers did not give any further information about what Hale allegedly did to prompt the charges against him, citing the 1991 Victim's Rights Act.

Anyone with information on Hale's whereabouts is asked to contact troopers at 352- 5401 or their local law enforcement agency.

Hale first gained widespread notoriety in Alaska three years ago when he cleared a trail over National Park Service land to a mining claim he bought outside of McCarthy, without a permit.

According to a Washington Post article, Hale claimed he was only vaguely aware the acreage he bought was surrounded by a national park when he drove a D-4 Caterpillar 14 miles through the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, which was created in 1981. According to the article, the man calling himself Pilgrim became the feature attraction in an ideological war between wilderness advocates and anti-Park Service people.

The Hales have 15 children, according to the Post. The family's Alaska Permanent Fund dividends paid for the $450,000 410-acre former mining claim, the article stated.