For the second time this week, an inmate at the Unalaska jail has attempted escape and failed.

Christopher Hadsell, 23, was brought to the Unalaska courthouse by two police officers for a pre-indictment hearing and attempted to flee their custody shortly before 10am. Hadsell was in both handcuffs and leg irons at the time, and was apprehended almost immediately. Back-up was requested, and Hadsell was ultimately transported back to the Unalaska jail by four officers.

Ironically, the court hearing that Hadsell fled from concerned an unsuccessful jailbreak that took place on Monday. Hadsell stands accused of faking a seizure to lure a corrections officer into his cell and then trying to lock that officer away. According to the Department of Public Safety, Hadsell was quickly apprehended in the cellblock hallway and would not have been able to make further progress.

A man accused of vandalizing the Russian Orthodox cathedral tried to escape from the Unalaska jail early Monday morning.

Christopher Hadsell, 23, allegedly drew a corrections officer into his cell by faking a seizure. According to the Department of Public Safety, Hadsell attacked Officer Victor Sabater and tried locking him in the cell before fleeing. Sabater sustained minor injuries in the process.

Hadsell didn’t make it very far, though. Sabater and another officer managed to apprehend him in the cellblock hallway.

According to Sgt. Bill Simms, there are security measures in place that would have prevented Hadsell from exiting the building.

“Even though he did make it out of the cell room, he wouldn’t have been able to make it out of the cellblock, because that has a secondary device that locks him into that area,” says Simms.

Simms adds that it’s the first time he’s seen an escape attempted in his 12 years with the police force.

A week after a court magistrate described him as a danger to the community, Brandon Rosa has been released from jail as he awaits court action in a recent assault case.

In April, Rosa was arrested for allegedly attacking a local high school student in a fit of road rage. As the Dutch Harbor Telegraph initially reported, Rosa allegedly became violent with Killian Baker after Baker passed him while driving and gave him a “funny look.”  Baker was medevaced to Anchorage as a result of the beating, and Rosa was charged with assault in the second degree – a felony.

A Washington man accused of vandalizing the Russian Orthodox Church was arrested this weekend over an unrelated assault.

Christopher Hadsell, 23, faces a slew of charges related crimes committed Unalaska over the past two years. His troubles began in 2010, when he was working as a deckhand on the F/V Caitlin Ann and allegedly tried cashing a voided check for $3,488 from the boat’s account. Hadsell moved to Washington shortly after the incident, but returned to Unalaska this March to “make things right” and face the felony theft charge, as he wrote in a note to the court.

Ten people have been charged in association with the fire that destroyed a warehouse in St. Paul earlier this year, according to the Dutch Harbor Fisherman.

The Fisherman reports that the charges range from criminal mischief to arson and that the individuals involved are both juveniles and adults.

The warehouse belonged to the Native corporation TDX and was leased by Trident Seafoods for storage. No one was injured in the blaze, although the school did have to shut down briefly because of the smoke.

(Courtesy Brenda Tellman)

A national historic landmark and two local businesses were vandalized in a graffiti spree.

Reports of the crime came in on Monday morning, according to the Unalaska Department of Public Safety. The Church of the Holy Ascension and the neighboring bishop’s palace were tagged with words like “Dutch” and “Dunka,” written in gray. The vandals also scrawled initials like “PNW” and nicknames like “T-Bag” on property owned by Samson and Highliner and construction material belonging to the City of Unalaska.

Two processors were arraigned on sexual assault charges in Unalaska on Thursday. Diego Mayuyo, 48, and Ismael Balallo, 45, allegedly attacked a woman at a Unisea bunkhouse on Tuesday night.

Both are accused of engaging in unwanted sexual contact with the woman. Balallo is also accused of penetrating the woman without her consent. For that he’s charged with sexual assault in the first degree, which is an unclassified felony, the most serious level of offense.

The two men charged with the murder of seafood processor Jonathan Adams have both pleaded not guilty on all counts.

Leonardo Bongolto, Jr., 34, and Denison Soria, 40, stand accused of beating a co-worker at Bering Fisheries to death in February. The pair had initially been charged with murder in the first degree, but a grand jury brought that charge down. Now, Bongolto faces a charge of murder in the second degree and assault in the first degree. Soria also faces those charges, in addition to another felony charge for tampering with evidence.

The United States Supreme Court handed down a decision Tuesday in a workers' compensation case that started in Unalaska. 

Longshoreman Dana Roberts slipped on the ice while working as a dispatcher for Sea-Land in 2002, injuring his back and shoulder.  He received compensation from the company for several years before Sea-Land stopped paying.  Roberts took them to court and a judge ruled that he was permanently disabled and consequently entitled to continue receiving benefits.  Sea-Land resumed payments at the 2002 average wage rate.  But Roberts argued he should be getting paid 2007 wages, the year the court declared him disabled.