On Monday, Nov. 26, 48-year-old Jess Clucas of Clam Gulch was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Jason Gist to 271 years for 60 felony counts for sexually abusing three grade-school children over a fourteen-year period.
A Kenai jury convicted Clucas of the 60 counts on April 16, 2024.
In a courtroom that was packed by the public, jurors, and family members of the victims, Judge Gist imposed a sentence for each individual charge in a hearing that lasted more than three and a half hours. Judge Gist declared that this was among the worst sexual abuse cases that he had seen, based on the number of victims and lengthy period of abuse, and expressed the need for a significant period of confinement in order to protect the public and to deter others in light of Alaska’s nation-leading rates of sexual assault.
In addition to imposing a composite sentence of 271 years of active incarceration, Clucas was also sentenced to 105 years of suspended jail time, 25 years of probation, and a lifetime sex offender registration requirement. Because Clucas was convicted of sixteen counts of the highest-level sexual felony offenses under Alaska law, he is not eligible for discretionary or mandatory parole on those offenses.
The Kenai District Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case. The very lengthy criminal investigation was led by Investigative Sgt. Mark Pearson of the Alaska Bureau of Investigations and conducted with the assistance of the South Peninsula Haven House Child Advocacy Center in Homer.