Rape charge for teen

WASILLA — A 19-year-old Wasilla man was arraigned Sunday on a charge of rape.

Alexander Burgholzer-Schwochert was arrested Saturday after Alaska State Troopers responded to a domestic violence report on Zak Circle near Wasilla.

According to an affidavit trooper David Bower filed in the rape case, the initial call for help came from a friend of the woman Burgholzer-Schwochert is alleged to have raped.

Bower writes that when they got to the home, troopers first talked to the woman. The alleged victim, 19, told troopers that Burgholzer-Schwochert had tried to have sex with her in the bathroom and she said no.

The woman alleged that Burgholzer-Schwochert then took her to the bedroom, held her down, put his hand over her mouth, and raped her.

“(She) said Schwochert kept his hand over her mouth the whole time,” Bower wrote. “(She) said during this event there was a moment where she couldn’t breathe for about 10-15 seconds.”

She told troopers she told him “no” twice in the bathroom and twice again in the bedroom.

Bowers wrote that Burgholzer-Schwochert was taken to the Palmer trooper post for an interview.

“Schwochert admitted to having sex with (the woman) and putting his hand over her mouth. Schwochert believed that (she) only said ‘no’ to having sex in the bathroom,” Bowers wrote.

Burgholzer-Schwochert was arrested on a single charge of first-degree sexual assault, according to troopers and court records. More charges are sometimes added after a case goes before a grand jury.

According to court documents, Burgholzer-Schwochert was arraigned Sunday morning and is being held on $20,000 bond. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for 1 p.m., Dec. 1.

Court documents also show that Burgholzer-Schwochert has a clean record aside from a handful of traffic infractions.

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