A 20-year-old man is facing felony charges in back-to-back assaults at the UniSea bunkhouses this week — including an attempted sexual assault.
Police allege that Jose Sedona got into a fight on Tuesday, striking a man in the face. Sedona was a UniSea employee. Company security reported the fight to police.
Public safety director Jamie Sunderland says officers judged Sedona to be sober and took him into custody.
“Well, that was at 2 in the morning,” Sunderland says. “Later that day, Mr. Sedona was arraigned on his Assault 4 charges and released on bail later that afternoon.”
A few hours later, UniSea security contacted police and asked them to help respond to another fight — also involving Sedona.
Police allege that Sedona had tried to sexually assault a woman around 9 p.m. as she was opening the door to her bunkhouse room. They say that Sedona forced his way into the woman’s room and pushed her down, tearing at her clothes.
Sedona’s family members allegedly came in and tried to pull Sedona away. When police arrived, chief Sunderland says they came across a fight, with Sedona taking part.
“And he was struggling against what I believe is a couple of security personnel and possibly some family members all in kind of a big shoving, scuffle match,” Sunderland says.
Sunderland says that officers arrested Sedona — and again, he appeared to be sober.
Sedona was arraigned in Unalaska district court this morning on two counts of felony assault and one unclassified felony for attempted sexual assault. He was also charged with felony burglary, for allegedly forcing his way into a private room, and a misdemeanor for violating the terms of his release after he got out of jail on Tuesday afternoon.
Magistrate judge Jane Pearson set Sedona’s new bail at $50,000, with a third-party custodian to watch him at all times.
The judge heard comments from two members of the defendant’s family, who said that Sedona has a mental condition and needs treatment. UniSea security supervisor Juan Salazar told the court that UniSea has terminated Sedona’s employment and permanently banned him from their property.
The judge noted that Sedona appears to have no criminal record in Alaska or any other state.
