Former Anchorage police officer charged with sexual assault

A 33-year-old former Anchorage Police Department officer was arrested late Sunday on sexual assault charges and also faces numerous other felony charges, according to a criminal case made public Monday.

Officers on Sunday became aware of a sexual assault that occurred in December 2022 or January 2023 involving Scott Boneta, the department said in an online release. “Detectives with the Special Victims Unit immediately began a comprehensive criminal investigation,” police said.

Boneta was an officer with the department for 3 ½ years and was assigned to patrol, the department said. He was placed on leave in August and is no longer employed by the department, according to the statement.

He was taken into custody just before 10:30 p.m. Sunday, questioned by detectives and taken to the Anchorage jail, police said. He is facing charges of first- and second-degree sexual assault, first-degree burglary, stalking and seven counts of criminal use of a computer. He remained in custody on Monday.

The alleged crimes occurred while he was a police officer. Police said he was not on duty during the alleged sexual assault, burglary and stalking incidents.

The charging document in the case lays out a narrative of escalating concerns about the officer’s behavior.

Boneta was hired in 2019 as a patrol officer, the department said.

The department started investigating Boneta on Aug. 13, the document said, when he “expressed concerns to command that he did not want to go on duty for fears that others wanted to harm him.”

He told a detective he believed a woman he had dated on and off, members of a veterans group he’d been part of on Facebook and “possibly members of his own family” wanted to kill him, the narrative said. He told officers he improperly used police databases and other protected private information to research people outside of the scope of his work as a law enforcement officer, the charges said.

During the interview, Boneta “spoke disjointedly and illogically” and referenced having “‘powers,’ and spoke of Illuminati, Freemasons and Wiccans,” the charges said.

At the end of August, the department put Boneta on leave, and he checked into a private psychiatric facility for veterans, according to the charges.

As of Thursday, Sept. 28, Boneta “was no longer an Anchorage Police Department employee,” the charges said.

The next day, Friday, Anchorage police officers went to Boneta’s house on a welfare check, and found him sitting in a dark house, appearing gaunt, the charges said. Boneta told officers he could “be frightening because a lot of people don’t understand what I can do,” according to the charges.

Boneta later texted one of the officers who had been on the welfare check — his former colleague — calling her “my child” and “my dear,” the charges said.

Then on Sunday, a woman contacted APD to report that Boneta was stalking her house. In an interview with police, she said that she had been sexually assaulted by Boneta in late 2022 or early 2023, and that since then he had shown up to her gym and other places he knew she would be, the charges said. She was scared of him, had begun sleeping with a gun by her bed and had installed extra locks and a home security camera, the charges said.

The sexual assault made her feel “ashamed, sad, angry and that until reporting it to police she had not told anyone,” the charges said.

The camera, the charges said, had recorded him early Sunday afternoon coming to her house with a gun in his waistband, appearing to try to get in.

Police found Boneta Sunday night at Lake Otis Parkway and Tudor Road and arrested him, the charges said.

The release from the department included a statement from Police Chief Michael Kerle saying “Boneta’s actions in no way reflect the high standard and values of the law enforcement profession ... We have zero tolerance for any criminal or inappropriate conduct by our officers, and we hold them accountable for their actions.”

At his first court appearance on Monday, an Anchorage Superior Court judge set bail for Boneta at $200,000 cash with a third party custodian required. He remains in the Anchorage jail.

Police said the investigation continues and detectives believe there may be other victims. Anyone with information is encouraged to call APD dispatch at 311 and reference APD Case 23-31886.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Boneta was off duty during all the incidents he is charged with. Police said he was not on duty for the alleged burglary, stalking and sexual assault.