JUNEAU (AP) — A special prosecutor has filed charges of sexual abuse of a minor in the third degree against former Alaska Attorney General Clyde “Ed” Sniffen.
Third-degree sexual abuse of a minor is a felony punishable by two to 12 years in prison.
The charges are related to Sniffen’s alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl in 1991, when she was a high school student and he was the coach of her school’s mock trial team. Sniffen was 27 at the time.
Sniffen was a longtime attorney with the department who was appointed attorney general by Gov. Mike Dunleavy in January 2021. However, Sniffen resigned shortly afterward. Attorneys general must be confirmed by the Legislature, and Sniffen resigned before that point.
Sniffen had replaced as attorney general Kevin Clarkson, who in 2020 submitted his resignation for what he called a “lapse of judgment” after details were revealed of hundreds of unwanted text messages he had sent to a female state employee.
The Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica last year reported that Sniffen’s resignation was announced as they were reporting on allegations of sexual misconduct with the 17-year-old girl three decades earlier.
“As you are all aware, an independent investigation into Mr. Sniffen’s relationship with a 17-year-old (at that time) girl many years ago had been ongoing since the relationship came to light in January 2021,” Cori Mills, a deputy attorney general with the Alaska Department of Law, write in an email to staff after the special prosecutor had filed charges.
“The Anchorage Police Department conducted the investigation, and the special prosecutor reviewed the investigation independent of our department. Now that charges have been filed, a grand jury will determine whether to indict based on the evidence presented to them,” Mills wrote.
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