Alaska State Troopers say a former custodian at Soldotna’s Skyview Middle School stands accused of sexually abusing a student in 2013, after he was investigated due to suspected misconduct involving other students.
Soldotna resident Alexander Coxwell, 52, was arrested Thursday according to a trooper dispatch. He faces three felony counts each of first-degree and second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, with a seventh charge still pending.
According to charging documents, troopers first investigated Coxwell in 2013 after the victim mentioned her sexual relationship with Coxwell to a friend. The friend told her mother, who then contacted troopers. The investigation was dropped after the student was admitted to a residential treatment facility. No charges were brought against Coxwell.
Troopers say Coxwell was investigated two more times after the initial investigation in 2013 for conduct involving students.
Then, earlier this year, troopers received another report alleging sexual abuse by Coxwell of a different student via the state Office of Children’s Services. It was while investigating that report that troopers determined the 2013 incident warranted further review.
Those investigations included statements from Kenai Peninsula Borough School District staff that indicated Coxwell was “forced to resign.”
The investigator contacted the student from the 2013 incident earlier this year. The former student said she’d had a sexual relationship with Coxwell for over a year between when she was 13 and 16. Troopers arranged a monitored conversation between Coxwell and the former student.
In a text conversation, troopers say Coxwell made numerous statements about sexual intercourse with the former student. Troopers say Coxwell also commented about videos he took of the alleged abuse and that showed him supplying the former student with alcohol.
Troopers arranged a sting operation Thursday at the Kenai Municipal Airport. Troopers approached Coxwell, who was holding flowers. Coxwell gave the former student’s name when troopers asked who he was waiting for.
As reported by the Peninsula Clarion, at least four former school district employees have been convicted for sexual misconduct involving a minor since 2000. Of those, three involved an employee and a student.
That total doesn’t include Isaac Davis, 35, a former borough employee who pleaded guilty two weeks ago to attempted indecent viewing of minors. Davis was arrested in 2022 after state troopers said he’d been photographing women and girls in pool locker rooms without their knowledge at Skyview, Ninilchik School and Nikiski Middle/High School.
Another man, 24-year-old Christopher Adams, was charged in February after the Soldotna Police Department said he intentionally exposed himself to a student while working in Kalifornsky Beach Elementary School.
The charges also come amid a case actively being litigated against a former Soldotna High School teacher and head of the local teachers’ union. In that case, Nathaniel Erfurth faces more than 60 charges after a former student said they had a sexual relationship for years while she was still a minor.
According to court records, Coxwell was arraigned Friday morning in Kenai. As of Friday afternoon, Coxwell was being represented by the Public Defender Agency and did not yet have another court appearance scheduled.
Troopers believe Coxwell may have had additional victims, and ask anyone with relevant information to contact them at 907-262-4453.
