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Michael Lee Jacko sentenced to five years in Pedro Bay rape case

Last of three perpetrators of abuse on young victim to be sentenced. "It's interesting that at no time did you express remorse," said Judge Pat Douglass while handing down five year term.

This story originally aired on September 30, 2016.

KDLG: Michael Lee Jacko, 51, began a five year jail sentence Friday, September 30. Judge Pat Douglass handed down the sentence at a court hearing  in Anchorage.  

Last fall Jacko pleaded guilty to second degree sexual abuse of a minor in a case dating to 2011. The allegations, however, go back decades. Assistant district attorney Javier Diaz said at the sentencing hearing that this is a much more serious and aggravated child abuse case than the single charge indicates.

“This isn’t simply a one count, one time kind of incident. This was ongoing abuse. [Initials omitted] was abused for a very long period of time," said Diaz. "I believe she stated the first time was when she was four to five years old, and the indictment goes all the way to 2008 when she was 12 years old. She described being abused more than twenty times, so this was a pattern of abuse throughout [initials omitted]’s childhood.”

Jacko was one of three men who abused the same minor girl over years in Pedro Bay, and he was the last to be sentenced. The state took a hard line, asking for seven years in jail with three suspended for Jacko. That is close to the maximum, based on earlier sentencing guidelines when some of the crimes occurred. Diaz had no patience for Jacko's attempt to excuse his behavior by blaming alcohol.

“This isn’t just something where he blacked out and somehow doesn’t remember. He does remember and he doesn’t want to admit it, so we’ve got a serious problem here," said Diaz. "I think alcohol is certainly a factor, but otherwise normal people don’t just black out and start raping kids. That doesn’t happen, judge. So in terms of his ability to accept responsibility and accept what he did and how serious it is, I think that’s another reason why the state is very guarded about his ability to be rehabilitated.”

Jacko’s attorney Greg Parvin did not make excuses for his client’s behavior, and said these cases are very tough to defend. However, he asked for a sentence of two to four years, and said his client had been sober since 2010 and stayed out of trouble since then.

Judge Pat Douglass had little sympathy for those arguments, and in lengthy sentencing remarks called attention to the lasting harm done to abuse victims that sometimes is overlooked in these cases.

"This particular kind of repeated violation by a trusted family member has the worst kind of impact on a child," said Douglass. "It’s interesting and of note that at no time did you ever express remorse, never extended an apology."

Judge Douglass sentenced Jacko to five years of jail time with no probation to follow. Jacko asked to begin his sentence after he had time to help his father prepare for the winter in Pedro Bay. Douglass denied that and ordered him to remand to custody immediately.

Reach the author at dave@kdlg.orgor 907.842.5281.