In rural Alaska, there are a growing number of cases involving young teens in small, remote Indigenous communities, who are sexually exploited online.

As KNBA’s Rhonda McBride tells us, FBI investigators want to be sure Robert Segevan from the North Slope didn’t have any other alleged victims, after they indicted and arrested him in Wainwright, Alaska this July for child exploitation.

In charging documents, they showed evidence of how 31-year-old Segevan used social media chats to badger teenage girls into sending him sexually explicit pictures of themselves. The alleged victims were as young as 12, 13, and 15.

Chloe Martin, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Alaska field office, says, although this case takes place in one of the most isolated places in the nation, it is not beyond the FBI’s reach.

“No matter where a child lives, they deserve safety, support, and justice.”

Martin says sexual exploitation occurs in large cities and small communities alike, and it helps to end the abuse, when victims come forward.

“Victims may be eligible for certain services, potentially restitution and rights under federal or state law – and of course, all identities of these victims will be kept confidential.”

The FBI says Robert Segevan allegely used a number of names online including Ethan Allen, tukak, robertsegavan20, and robertsegevan24. He is also believed to have ties to Utqiaġvik and Kaktovik.

The FBI’s Anchorage field office and the North Slope Borough Police Department worked together on this case, which came to light last October, after a North Slope Borough police officer took a complaint from a 15-year-old girl. She told the officer Segevan had asked for images of her breasts and private parts.

In the course of the investigation, he learned that two 12-year-olds had also allegedly received similar messages and that a 13-year-old said they sent Segevan nude photos.

The Anchorage Police Department is also investigating the case through the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.

The FBI is asking anyone who has information about Segevan’s alleged crimes to contact the Anchorage FBI field office at 907-276-4441 or tips.fbi.gov.

(Courtesy Assembly of First Nations / Facebook)

Hundreds of First Nations chiefs recently gathered in Winnipeg for their annual meeting.

And as Dan Karpenchuk reports, most of the talk was about the impact on their communities of new laws allowing the fast tracking of major infrastructure projects.

The concerns brought to the Winnipeg meeting focussed on how First Nations rights were being challenged by the push by Ottawa to have major projects moved forward.

Many chiefs are angry that the new law Bill C-5 was pushed through with only seven days to review and comment on it.

Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak is the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

“The way the act was introduced has caused concern for many chiefs. This assembly is an opportunity for chiefs to deliberate and to provide direction moving forward.”

But two days into the gathering the chief voted down a pitch to include First Nations infrastructure ventures in the government’s national plan to fast track major projects like pipelines and mining of precious metal.

The resolutions didn’t get the needed 60% support.

Some said passing the resolution would have been supporting the federal legislation and could have put their rights in jeopardy.

The vice chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations said major project discussions must include Indigenous people because these decisions affect treaty rights by impacting their ability to exercise rights to hunt, fish trap, and pass on their way of life. And it’s important for Indigenous leaders to have a say on future projects.

More than 600 chiefs from across the country attended the meeting.

Other issues on the table included talks on child welfare reform, Native policing, health care, the drug crisis, and the lack of proper housing on reserves.

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