Randall Scott Hines, Distributing Drugs to Teenage Girls, Alaska 2023

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA - A Homer charter boat captain has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for distributing drugs to underage individuals and possessing child pornography.

Randall Scott Hines, 34, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Timothy M. Burgess for one consolidated count of distributing drugs to underage individuals and one count of possession of child pornography.

The sentence, which includes 10 years of supervised release, means Hines will be required to register as a sex offender for 15 years following his release from federal custody.

The charges against Hines stem from his relationships with a series of teenage girls in Homer between 2008 and 2011. During that time, Hines frequently supplied the girls with methamphetamine or other drugs, often in conjunction with having sex with them. Four of the six teenage girls with whom Hines had a sex and drug relationship were under the age of 16 at the time and thus were under Alaska's legal age of consent.

Hines also pled guilty to possessing a sexually explicit video clip of him engaged in sex conduct with one of the minor victims. This conviction will also require him to register as a sex offender for 15 years following his release from federal custody.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Sayers-Fay, who prosecuted the case, Hines' 10-year sentence and 10-year period of supervised release reflects the seriousness of his crimes, which involved a pattern of sexual abuse.

During his sentencing remarks, Judge Burgess rejected the suggestion that Hines' own methamphetamine addiction mitigated his culpability for his conduct. Burgess told Hines, 'The bottom line is, in those instances that were outlined and detailed in the plea agreement in this case, there was one adult in the room. One adult. And that was you! You were the adult. I don't care if you were drunk. I don't care if you were on methamphetamine or oxycodone. You were the adult in the room, and you didn't act like the adult in the room.'

Hines' plea agreement required him to fund a $160,000 trust fund to help victims obtain drug treatment and counseling. However, Judge Burgess noted that this positive step would not make amends for the crimes, which had 'significant and devastating effect on the victims and their families.'

U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler commends the persistence of the victims and their families in this case, as well as the work of the FBI and Anchorage Police Department Vice Unit as part of the Innocence Lost Task Force, whose combined efforts culminated in Hines' convictions.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ak/pr/homer-resident-sentenced-ten-years-distributing-drugs-teenage-girls-and-possessing-child