The man Alaska honored as Parent of the Year in 2019 has been indicted on 47 criminal counts of sexually abusing teenage girls over a sixteen-year period. Ulric Ulroan, 48, former mayor of Chevak, high school girls basketball coach, certified foster parent, and pilot, allegedly used every role he held in his community to prey on kids. The awards and the accolades were, apparently, window dressing.
Who Is Ulric Ulroan, and What Exactly Is He Charged With
According to the Alaska Bureau of Investigation's news release, the case started in January when investigators received a tip that Ulroan had sexually abused a 17-year-old girl in the village of Chevak between 2009 and 2010. That single tip opened a floodgate. Investigators say the abuse stretched from 2009 all the way to 2025, spanning four communities: Chevak, Anchorage, Mountain Village, and Nome.
A grand jury in Bethel handed up an indictment this past Tuesday charging Ulroan with 47 criminal counts. The Guardian reports those charges include sexual assault in the first degree, first- and second-degree sexual abuse, second-degree indecent exposure, and furnishing alcohol to minors. He was arrested four days after the indictment and is currently held at Anvil Mountain correctional center. KNOM reports bail was set at $250,000.
KTUU, citing state troopers investigator Brian Wassmann, reports there are at least six identified victims in the indictment. State troopers say they believe there could be more. They are asking anyone with relevant information to contact them.
The Positions of Trust He Held While This Was Allegedly Happening
Let's just walk through the resume here, because it matters. Ulroan was a longtime mayor of Chevak, a remote village of fewer than 1,000 people. He served on the city's governing council and, according to KTUU, was mayor by around 2007. A 2013 Alaska Dispatch article described him as Chevak's "longtime mayor" and a schoolteacher.
He coached high school girls basketball. He was a certified foster parent from 2005 to 2023. He worked as a pilot for regional carrier Bering Air. And KTUU reports that some of the charges against him specifically allege he "was in a position of authority over the victims while committing these crimes."
This is not a case of someone with a hidden private life. This is someone whose entire public identity was built around being trusted with children, and who allegedly used that trust, systematically, for sixteen years across multiple Alaskan communities.
The Parent of the Year Award Deserves Its Own Paragraph
In 2019, the Alaska Federation of Natives honored Ulric and Mary Ulroan as Parents of the Year. The AFN described the couple as parents of six children and three grandchildren who pushed their family to excel "in academics and sports."
The AFN's own news release quoted Ulroan's advice to young people: "Just do it. Start something without hesitation." The release also noted his late mother had taught him "to pray for others who do harm to you." The irony of that quote, given what he now stands accused of, is genuinely difficult to read.
This is not a small irony. This is a man who received a formal, public honor specifically for being a model parent, from a respected Native organization, while the alleged abuse was, according to the indictment's timeline, still actively occurring. The indictment covers through 2025. The award was 2019. Do the math.
What His Wife Said
Mary Ulroan shared a statement with KNOM after her husband's arrest. She called it an "extremely painful time" and said she could not comment further because the matter is active legally.
She did say her "first priority is the safety and wellbeing of all people affected" and asked for "compassion and privacy" for her family, particularly her children. That is a reasonable thing to ask. Her children did not do anything wrong, and they are presumably dealing with something shattering.
What the statement does not contain is any defense of her husband. That is worth sitting with.
Investigators Say There Are Likely More Victims
Alaska state troopers were direct about this in their news release: they believe there are additional victims of Ulroan who have not yet come forward. Given that the known allegations span sixteen years and four communities, that is not a difficult conclusion to reach.
Investigators are asking anyone with information to contact them. If you or someone you know has information relevant to this case, Alaska state troopers are actively seeking it. These investigations only work when people come forward, and in small, isolated communities, that is one of the hardest things anyone can be asked to do.
The Dingo Take
There is a particular kind of horror in a story like this, and it is not just the crimes themselves, as monstrous as those are. It is the system of trust that made them possible. Ulroan did not operate in spite of his community standing. He operated through it. Every title, every coaching role, every award was infrastructure. The state of Alaska handed him a foster care certification and renewed it for eighteen years. The Alaska Federation of Natives gave him a plaque. And the whole time, according to prosecutors, he was doing this.
People will ask how nobody knew. That is the wrong question, and it always has been. The right question is: what structures made it easy for him to keep going? Small, remote communities with limited institutional oversight. A man with a pilot's license who could move between villages. Positions of authority that made victims less likely to be believed and less able to speak. None of that excuses inaction by anyone who may have seen something. All of it explains how predators stay hidden for sixteen years.
The victims here are real people who deserve justice, and the investigation is ongoing. State troopers believe there are more of them. If you know something, call. And the next time someone in your community collects award after award for being a pillar of virtue, maybe remember that the awards are given by institutions, and institutions miss things. People miss things. Predators, historically, are counting on it.
