Man Who Was Sexually Abused As A Child Uses Sex Offenders Registry To Track Down And Beat Up Predators
But he doesn't consider himself a hero.
YouTube A man who became known as the “Alaskan Avenger” has spoken out five years after he was imprisoned for violently assaulting and robbing three registered sex offenders.
Jason Vukovich committed these attacks in 2016 after a life-long struggle with his own traumatic past as a survivor of sexual abuse.
Now, Vukovich is warning others not to consider him a hero and to be cautious about what we consider revenge.
Who is the Alaskan Avenger, Jason Vukovich?
Vukovich was born in 1974 in Anchorage, Alaska. Several years after his birth, his mother — who was a single mother — married Larry Lee Fulton, who officially adopted Jason and his brother Joel.
However, rather than become the father figure Vukovich was missing, this marriage would send Vulkovich down a dark path.
Jason Vulkovich was sexually abused by his stepfather.
In a letter that Vulkovich later penned to the “Anchorage Daily News,” he recalled how his stepfather’s devotion to Christianity made the abuse all the more difficult to understand.
“Both of my parents were dedicated Christians and had us in every church service available, two or three each week,” he wrote.
“So you can imagine the horror and confusion I experienced when this man who adopted me began using late, late night ‘prayer’ sessions to molest me.”
Fulton would also beat Vulkovich and his brother with belts and wood.
Vulkovich even testified in court that he would throw himself in front of Joel to protect him.
Their father was charged with second-degree abuse of a minor in 1989, but he served no prison time.
Vukovich says no one ever came to check in on the family afterward and the abuse continued.
Vulkovich eventually ran away with his brother when he was 16.
Vulkovich turned to crime to survive.
Still underage and living in Washington with no identification, Vulkovich had no way to make money apart from petty crime.
Vulkovich says he was trapped in a cycle of self-hatred because of what his father had done to him and soon built up a lengthy rap sheet with local cops.
“My silent understanding that I was worthless, a throw away… The foundations laid in my youth never went away,” he says.
Moving between Washington and Oregon to Idaho, Montana, and California, Vulkovich built up a criminal record that spanned across the nation.
Around 2008, he returned to Alaska where his crimes continued including theft, possession of a controlled substance, and the assault of his then-wife, which Vukovich denies.
In 2016, when the unaddressed trauma of his past was reaching crisis point, Vulkovich set out to practice his own brand of justice against sex offenders.
Vulkovich began targetting people on the sex offenders registry.
In June of that year, Vulkovich, with a notebook of names and addresses from the registry, visited the homes of three sex offenders to rob and assault them.
On June 24, 2016, Vulkovich visit 68-year-old Charles Albee. He forced his way into his home, told Albee to sit on his bed, slapped him and told him how he had found his address.
Then, he robbed him and left.
25-year-old Andres Barbosa was his next target, two days later.
Vulkovich appeared at the man’s home at 4 a.m. along with two female accomplices.
He threatened him with a hammer, telling him he was there to “collect what Barbosa owed,” according to a bail memorandum.
Vulkovich then punched the man in the face and, as one of the woman filmed on her cellphone, he and the other woman stole several of Barbosa’s belongings, including his truck.
The third attack, against Weasley Demarest, became much more violent.
The man woke to Vulkovich forcing his way into his home at 1 a.m.
“He told me to lay down on my bed and I said ‘no,'” Demarest recalled. “He said ‘get on your knees,’ and I said ‘no.'”
Vulkovich struck Demarest in the face with a hammer during the attack.
“I’m an avenging angel. I’m going to mete out justice for the people you hurt,” he told the sex offender.
After stealing several items, Vulkovich left but it didn’t take long for police to find him sitting in his car with the stolen goods and the notebook with the addresses of his targets.
Vulkovich was arrested and charged for his crimes.
Vukovich pled guilty to first-degree attempted assault and a consolidated count of first-degree robbery.
In 2018, he was sentenced to 28 years in prison, with five years suspended and another five on probation.
In 2020, he appealed his sentence on the grounds that his PTSD should be considered a mitigating factor in his crimes but he lost this appeal.
Demarest has expressed his desire for Vulkovich to remain in prison, stating that he would prefer his attacker “wasn’t walking around while I’m alive.”
As several reporters have noted, it’s possible Demarest’s victim thinks the same!
Vulkovich doesn’t consider himself a hero.
A year before he was sentenced, Vulkovich wrote to the “Alaskan Daily News” to express remorse for his actions.
“I thought back to my experiences as a child… I took matters into my own hands and assaulted three pedophiles,” he wrote.
“If you have already lost your youth, like me, due to a child abuser, please do not throw away your present and your future by committing acts of violence.”
However, thousands have expressed their support for Vulkovich, including his attorney who believes he has already been punished enough.
“This whole thing started out as the punishment of a child who didn’t deserve to be treated this way,” Ember Tilton says.
Vulkovich has urged other victims of child sexual abuse to find inner peace and overcome their trauma without seeking vengeance against others.
Alice Kelly is a senior news and entertainment editor for YourTango. Based out of Brooklyn, New York, her work covers all things social justice, pop culture, and human interest. Keep up with her Twitter for more.