Sutton man indicted on sex abuse charges

MAT-SU -- A grand jury in Palmer indicted a 23-year-old Sutton man last week on two felony sex abuse charges for allegedly having sex with a 13-year-old. According to an affidavit filed in court by Alaska State Troopers, the man told a sex crime investigator that he had been previously incarcerated as a juvenile in Illinois for "criminal sexual assault" and had received treatment in the Chicago area.

The indictment was handed down April 23 against Phillip C. Pooley, who faces two felony charges. One is for first-degree sexual assault, the other for first-degree sexual abuse of a minor. Pooley told troopers he had engaged in consensual sex with the 13-year-old, according to an affidavit filed to support the charges against him. The affidavit also includes information from an interview with Pooley's victim in which she alleges Pooley jumped out of the woods while she was walking a trail, pushed her to the ground and forcibly raped her.

The investigation that led to charges against Pooley was conducted by AST's Mat-Su child sexual abuse investigation unit, a unit operated in cooperation with the Wasilla Police Department. The unit is comprised of two investigators; Wasilla PD funds one position. Both investigators have special training in the field of sex abuse investigations, including training for interviewing juvenile and adult victims, suspects and people who report abuse or suspicions of abuse.