A man charged with using a hammer to attack a registered sex offender in Anchorage last month now faces additional charges for assaulting two other men listed on the public sex-offender registry.
According to a recent bail memorandum, Jason Vukovich, a self-styled "avenging angel" according to one of the victims, carried a notebook with a list of names, including Charles Albee, Andres Barbosa and Wesley Demarest. Over five days in June, he entered the homes of the three men, uninvited, and hit them, sometimes with his fists and sometimes with a hammer. He also stole from them, said the bail memorandum signed by assistant district attorney Patrick McKay.
Vukovich told police that he targeted his victims based on their listings on Alaska's sex-offender registry, the memo says. The online registry includes their home addresses, employer addresses and convictions.
Police found Vukovich and his notebook inside of a gray Honda Civic early June 29 shortly after police said he attacked Demarest with a hammer. Vukovich was arrested and taken to the Anchorage jail where he remained Wednesday, nearly a month later. He faces 18 charges for assault, robbery, burglary and theft.
In an interview earlier this month, Demarest said his attacker called himself the "avenging angel" for children hurt by abusers.
A letter from jail
Vukovich's attorney declined to comment on the case earlier this month, but in a two-page letter signed in pencil and sent from jail a week ago, Vukovich said he himself suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of his adoptive father.
Vukovich wrote in the letter that he could not talk about the current charges he faced, but expressed shame and regret about some of his past behavior. He wrote about his father who adopted, beat and molested him as a child.
"After this adoption took place, I was beaten with 2x4s custom made for the purpose of inflicting pain or belts etc.," he wrote. "Also, I suffered through repeated molestation at his hands."
Vukovich identified his adoptive father as Larry Lee Fulton. A 1989 Anchorage Daily News article said a Larry Lee Fulton was found guilty of second-degree abuse of a minor but received only a three-year suspended sentence from then-Superior Court Judge Karl Johnstone. Johnstone ordered Fulton to stay away from his victim, who was unnamed. Vukovich wrote that Fulton "returned immediately to the home and isolated me out in Wasilla."
A court document filed by Vukovich's attorney in an earlier criminal case also details his childhood of abuse and molestation by "Mr. Fulton."
"What I can say at this time is that after being physically and mentally abused by a predator, my life was forever changed," Vukovich wrote in the letter. "I literally gave my own existence no value or concern. I became a thief and a liar and went on to make many poor choices throughout my life."
In closing his letter, Vukovich wrote that children "should be able to play in the streets and parks and go to church without the threat of pedophiles lingering around them."
"My own heart may have been broken long ago," he wrote, "but with all my being I support every child in pursuit of their dreams."
In asking for strict bail conditions this week, the prosecutor noted that Vukovich has been convicted for a string of charges including fraud, theft, possession of a controlled substance and assault. Vukovich most recently got out of jail on June 24. Police say he assaulted Albee the next day.
Three assaults
About 9:30 a.m. June 25, Albee answered a knock on his door and an unknown man walked in, according to the bail memorandum against Vukovich. The intruder told Albee to sit on his bed and slapped him in the face multiple times. He said he was there because Albee was a registered sex offender. Albee said the man had a notebook with a list of names, the bail memorandum says.
Albee was convicted in 2003 of second-degree abuse of a minor, according to the registry.
The intruder stole items from Albee's home and left, the prosecutor's memo says. Albee described him as a white man with shoulder-length dark hair who wore a black leather jacket and baseball cap, according to the memo.
Within 48 hours, Barbosa answered a knock on his door in South Anchorage about 4 a.m. on June 27. A white man in a dark jacket and baseball cap asked if his name was "Barbosa." When he said yes, the man threatened him with a hammer. The man entered his home with two women, the memo says.
"The male made Barbosa sit in a chair and told him he was there because of Barbosa's crimes," the memo says. "The man called him a 'pedophile,' punched Barbosa in the face several times, threatened to 'bash in his dome' with the hammer, and stated that he was there to collect what Barbosa owed."
Barbosa was convicted of a charge brought in 2014 of possession of child pornography, according to the sex-offender registry. The charges against Vukovich say that Vukovich and one of the women stole several items from Barbosa's apartment, including his truck, while the other woman recorded it on her cellphone.
Then, on June 29 around 1 a.m., Demarest woke up to his roommate alerting him that someone had just smashed their Spenard home's window. A man with shoulder-length hair and a black leather jacket stood behind the roommate with a hammer, ordering him to leave, the memo says.
The man told Demarest to get down on his knees and lie on the bed. When Demarest didn't comply, the man hit him in the head with a hammer, knocking him unconscious. He stole several items, including a laptop computer, and left.
In 2006, Demarest was convicted of attempted sexual abuse of a minor.
Demarest woke up in a pool of blood on June 29. His roommate had called 911. Soon, police found Vukovich nearby, in his car with another person, a notebook, a hammer and several stolen items. The names of Albee, Barbosa and Demarest were all listed in the notebook, the memo says.
Vukovich's next court appearance is scheduled for Thursday afternoon. ..Source.. by Tegan Hanlon
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