Anchorage police: feds won’t pursue sex case charges against former VECO chairman Bill Allen

Police: Feds won’t try Bill Allen in sex case

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Department of Justice has decided not to pursue charges against former VECO Corp. Chairman Bill Allen in a child sexual abuse investigation, officials said Friday.

Anchorage Police Lt. Dave Parker confirmed that federal authorities have declined to prosecute. A second person briefed on the case, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case, confirmed the Justice Department and local authorities decided not to prosecute.

Karen Loeffler, the U.S. attorney for Alaska, did not immediately return a message left Friday.

“The judgment of the prosecutors not to seek criminal charges against Mr. Allen speaks for itself and renders speculation to the contrary meaningless and unnecessary,” Allen’s lawyer, Robert Bundy, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “We are gratified to learn that professionals at the Department of Justice, after carefully reviewing all the various allegations over several years, have decided that charges against Mr. Allen are unwarranted.”

Anchorage police conducted two investigations into whether Allen had sex with an underage girl in the 1990s. One case was stopped, and federal investigators joined the second investigation.

Allen was never charged and denied any wrongdoing in that case.

Parker said the DOJ did not explain its decision to not pursue the case.

“No. The feds never give you a reason,” he said.

Allen was the government’s star witness in corruption cases that included former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who died last week in a plane crash. Stevens was convicted, but a judge threw out the conviction because of prosecutorial misconduct. Attorney General Eric Holder dropped the indictment and declined to proceed with a new trial.

It’s the second time this month that the DOJ said it would not pursue Alaska corruption-related investigations.

U.S Rep. Don Young, 77, had been under investigation for several years for his ties to Allen, but was told Aug. 4 that the Justice Department would not pursue the investigation.

In the federal documents filed in October, the state’s only representative in the House was identified as “United States Representative A” in connection with the sentencing of Allen.

The court papers alleged that Young illegally received gifts totaling up to nearly $200,000 over 13 years from VECO Corp., Allen’s now-defunct oil field services company. According to the documents, Allen and former VECO vice president Rick Smith authorized corporate funds to pay up to $15,000 a year between 1993 and 2006 for expenses associated with Young’s annual pig roast fundraiser.

Young is seeking his 20th term in the House, and faces a GOP challenger in Tuesday’s primary.

Allen pleaded guilty to bribery and tax violations and now is serving three years at a federal prison in California.

Associated Press Writer Matt Apuzzo in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.