(SitNews) Anchorage, Alaska - U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced that a Homer charter boat captain was sentenced in federal court in Anchorage for one consolidated count of distributing drugs to underage individuals and one count of possession of child pornography.

Randall Scott Hines, age 34, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Timothy M. Burgess to 10 years’ imprisonment, to be followed by 10 years’ supervised release. Following his release from federal custody, Hines must register as a sex offender for 15 years.

In imposing the 10-year sentence on Hines, Judge Burgess stated that the facts Hines admitted in the plea agreement “underscore just how serious this offense was.” These facts included that between 2008 and 2011, Hines engaged in sexual relationships with a series of teenage girls in Homer. Hines frequently supplied these same girls with methamphetamine or other drugs, often in conjunction with having sex with them. Four of the six teenage girls with whom Hines had a sex and drug relationship were under the age of 16 at the time and thus were under Alaska’s legal age of consent.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Sayers-Fay, who prosecuted the case, Hines’ 10-year sentence and 10-year period of supervised release reflects that his crimes involved a pattern of sexual abuse. Hines also pled guilty to possessing a sexually explicit video clip of him engaged in sex conduct with one of the minor victims. By virtue of that child pornography conviction, Hines will be required to register as a sex offender for 15 years following his release from federal custody.

During his sentencing remarks, Judge Burgess rejected the suggestion that Hines’ own methamphetamine addiction mitigated his culpability for his conduct. Judge Burgess told Hines, “[T]he bottom line is, in those instances that were outlined and detailed in the plea agreement in this case, there was one adult in the room. One adult. And that was you. You were the adult. I don’t care if you were drunk. I don’t care if you were on methamphetamine or oxycodone. You were the adult in the room, and you didn’t act like the adult in the room.” The judge added, “I hope this is a cautionary tale.”

Hines’ plea agreement required him to fund a $160,000 trust fund to help victims obtain drug treatment and counseling. Judge Burgess noted this positive step, but observed that it would not make amends for the crimes, which had “significant and devastating effect on the victims and their families,” many of whom had sought restraining orders against Hines. As one mother told the court, Hines’ “age and finesse” allowed him to manipulate young women who had “not yet developed the ability to discern or recognize the evilness of his ways.”

Loeffler commended the persistence of the victims and their families in this case, as well as the work of the FBI and Anchorage Police Department Vice Unit as part of the Innocence Lost Task Force, whose combined efforts culminated in Hines’ convictions.

Source of News: 

U.S. Department of Justice - District of Alaska
www.justice.gov

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