Kelly David Crane, a 61-year-old Sterling resident, was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison for four charges of felony sexual offenses.
According to a release from the State Department of Law on Monday, Crane was sentenced to a composite 64 years in jail, with 12 suspended. The court “elected to run 22 years of imprisonment concurrently among the four counts,” the release says, resulting in 30 years of imprisonment. Additionally, Crane will face 15 years of supervised probation as well as sex offender registration and treatment.
Crane was found guilty of the crimes by a Kenai jury in October. According to an August 2021 dispatch by Alaska State Troopers, Crane was identified as a suspect in a September 2019 investigation of possible sexual abuse of a minor with multiple victims.
Crane fled Alaska to California, troopers said in 2021, and wasn’t arrested until Aug. 20 of that year, approaching two years after the original report.
The trial, according to a State Department of Law release in November, lasted three weeks. Fifteen witnesses were heard across 15 days followed by three days of deliberation by the jury. Crane was found guilty on Thursday, Oct. 26.
Sentencing was originally scheduled for April, but Alaska’s court database says that hearing was delayed three times. Crane’s attorney had motioned for a new trail in March, but that motion was denied in June.
Crane was convicted on one count of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, two counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor and one count of second-degree attempted sexual abuse of a minor.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
