Content warning: This article includes mentions of sexual assault and abuse that may be uncomfortable for some readers. Resources are available at the bottom of this post.
Former Juneau-area chiropractor Jeffrey Fultz was arraigned Wednesday after two more women accused him of assaulting them under the guise of medical treatment.
Superior Court Judge Daniel Schally denied requests to keep Fultz in Alaska until the case is decided.
Police arrested Fultz in 2021 on three charges of sexual assault, based on accusations that he had assaulted patients while he was a chiropractor for Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium.
More women came forward after his arrest. By July of 2021, he faced accusations from 12 former patients. Now that number is 14.
Fultz, who has been living in Colorado since 2021, faces 18 felony sexual assault charges and one misdemeanor harassment charge.
Accusers want Fultz back in Alaska
At his arraignment yesterday, Schally and Fultz’s attorney, Natasha Norris, said they believe it’s good for Fultz to be in Colorado, away from the women he allegedly assaulted. But three of his accusers disagreed, testifying that they are concerned that Fultz is out on bail and in another state.
Since 2021, some of Fultz’s accusers have been asking for him to be returned to Alaska.
“It’s about ensuring that not one more woman is harmed,” a woman that the courts are identifying as C.E.L. testified Wednesday. “His knowledge of systems and connections to power and resources has allowed him to continue to abuse women all over the nation.”
Schally said this was the first time he’d heard of any allegations towards Fultz in other places. But at a court hearing on July 12, 2021, then-Assistant District Attorney Jessalyn Gillum said she saw the same pattern.
“The concern that the state has is that the defendant has shown himself to be an individual that goes from Native community to Native community and seems to have a history of allegations such as this arise at multiple placements,” she said at the 2021 hearing.
And according to court documents, Fultz told Juneau police in 2021 that he’d been accused of improper touching at a previous job.
Fultz worked in the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and Arizona from 1999 to 2013.
New monitoring requirements
At the request of state prosecutor Bailey Woolfstead, Schally did order that Fultz be monitored through the Alaska Pretrial Enforcement Division, which will work with law enforcement in Colorado to make sure he isn’t practicing medicine.
“We do have a responsibility to the women in any community in which we allow Mr. Fultz to be,” Woolfstead said.
In an interview before the hearing, C.E.L. said she felt like a lack of monitoring in Colorado, along with Fultz’s ability to post $40,000 in bail, had allowed him to skirt consequences.
“He has put up a lot of money, which essentially affords him to continue to do harm without any oversight,” C.E.L. said.
Conditions Schally placed on Fultz in 2021 required that he not practice medicine or contact any of his accusers. He was also told to turn over his passport and continue living at his Durango home.
C.E.L. stressed that it’s against the accusers’ wishes for Fultz to remain in Colorado. She said it’s part of a broader pattern of the legal system not listening to assault survivors, especially Indigenous women.
“There’s so many larger systemic issues that make this whole process really difficult and re-traumatizing,” she said. “Our rates for prosecution are awful. Really, really, really awful.”
Fultz’s next readiness hearing is April 12. Last week, Gillum told KTOO that the number of witnesses in the case and other complicating factors mean that the trial likely will not happen soon.
In early 2021, the Indian Health Services established a hotline for callers to report suspected child abuse or sexual abuse by calling 1-855-SAFE-IHS (855-723-3447) or submitting a complaint online on the IHS.gov website. The hotline may be used to report any type of suspected child abuse within the IHS, or any type of sexual abuse regardless of the age of the victim. The person reporting by phone or online may remain anonymous.
Locally, people can call AWARE in Juneau at 907-586-1090.
KTOO is our partner public media station in Juneau. Alaska Public Media collaborates with partners statewide to cover Alaska news.
