A Bethel man has been charged with giving an 11-year-old girl alcohol and then sexually assaulting her. On April 2, prosecutors charged 27-year-old Benjamin “Bam Bam” Anderson-Agimuk with two counts of furnishing alcohol to a person under 21, and one count of sexual assault of a victim under 13.
This is the second time in a month that police have responded to claims that Anderson-Agimuk had sex with a girl after giving her alcohol. Police responded to a call on March 5 of a girl, 16, passed out on the street, according to court documents. When officers arrived, the girl’s mother said that Anderson-Agimuk had given her daughter alcohol and then had sex with her. According to the police affidavit, Anderson-Agimuk responded that “even if he did have sex with her, she was 16 so it was legal.”
While Anderson-Agimuk was detained at the police station, officers applied for a search warrant to collect DNA evidence from him. Before the warrant was granted, his attorney demanded he be released; officers complied. Once the search warrant came through, investigators tried to find Anderson-Agimuk, but could not locate him.
Less than a month later, on April 2, the charges say that police responded to a 911 call reporting a 14-year-old girl and an 11-year-old girl lying on the ground in front of the Kuskokwim Consortium Library. According to the charging document, the 11-year-old told police she had been raped by “Bam Bam,” using Anderson-Agimuk’s nickname. The girl said that Anderson-Agimuk had given her and the older girl alcohol and marijuana. The 11-year-old told police that she had been able to protect the 14-year-old from being raped.
The girl’s mother said that she had allowed her daughter to sleep over at the 14-year-old girl’s house the previous night. The 14-year-old told police that the 11-year-old had been messaging “Bam Bam,” and wanted to meet him. According to the charges, the 14-year-old said that they left the house at 5 a.m., and Anderson-Agimuk gave the girls drinks and smoked marijuana with them. The 14-year old said that she “blacked out.”
Acting Bethel Police Chief Amy Davis said that officers found Anderson-Agimuk at his house and arrested him on April 2. As of April 6, he was still being held at the Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center, with bail set at $50,000. He has been granted a public defender, and his next court date is May 14.
Anderson-Agimuk previously served as a legislative aide for former state House Rep. Zach Fansler until assault allegations led to Fansler’s resignation, and for Rep. Tiffany Zulkosky
In 2018, the Alaska Federation of Natives awarded Anderson-Agimuk the Roger Lang Youth Leadership Award.