An Anchorage therapist who worked with children of Alaska military personnel was sentenced Monday to 22 years in prison for producing and receiving child pornography, according to Anchorage police and the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Police say a 2009 search at the West Anchorage home of Andrew William Young, 48, yielded the largest collection of physical evidence for a single child porn case in Anchorage. Young, at the time a lieutenant commander with the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, managed clinical services for children of active duty service members at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Fort Richardson and Kodiak Coast Guard Station, and supervised mental health staff treating children, according to his resume.
Young pleaded guilty in 2010 to receiving child pornography in Alaska and taking photos of a nude 10-year-old boy while he was stationed at a Texas Air Force base.
Neither of the charges to which Young pleaded guilty in 2010 indicate he abused Alaska children with whom he worked. But according to a supplemental sentencing memorandum filed in federal court earlier this year, a child has since come forward with an allegation that Young touched the child through clothing during therapy sessions. Young's attorney denied the allegation, according to the November memorandum
"The United States does not believe there is sufficient evidence to issue new criminal charges at this time, nor does the United States intend to present the evidence at sentencing in order to increase Young's sentence of imprisonment," the memorandum says.
When asked for comment, a spokesman for Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson said no one who worked with Young remained at the base and they were therefore unable to immediately answer questions about his job or any subsequent investigation by the military.
According to his resume, Young specialized in the treatment of children with mental health issues and worked with a team that assisted in notifying families of the deaths of deployed military personnel, among other job duties. He was stationed in Alaska in 2008 after working in Texas, Florida, Virginia, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Germany and Iraq. According to Young's resume, he holds a Ph.D. in adolescent male development, a master's degree in social work and, before coming to Anchorage, worked as a school counselor and as a special-needs educator and founded a nonprofit summer camp to treat sexually abused boys.
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