Man charged with killing Alaska couple, raping toddler is registered sex offender

Monday, May 27, 2013

photo Jerry Andrew Active attempts to shield his face during his arraignment on charges of murder and sexual assault of a minor in the Anchorage jail court.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A man who has been charged with killing an elderly Alaska couple and raping their 2-year-old great-granddaughter is a registered sex offender convicted of breaking into a home and assaulting an 11-year-old girl four years ago.

Jerry Andrew Active, 24, was convicted in 2010 of assaulting the girl near Dillingham, Alaska, while her family slept.

Authorities say that on Saturday, Active broke into the apartment home of Touch Chea, 71, and his wife Sorn Sreap, 73, and beat the couple to death. He also raped Sreap, police said.

He was still inside the residence when their grandson, his pregnant wife and son arrived. The grandson, Von Seng, fought Active, but the assailant managed to flee. He was arrested nearby only wearing boxer shorts, authorities said.

"He took the old, the innocent," Seng told the Anchorage Daily News. "Come face me."

Seng had taken his wife and son to the movies that evening.

The victims were part of an extended family that lived in a ground-floor, east Anchorage apartment. The younger couple's 90-year-old great-grandmother also lives in the apartment and was at home during the incident.

Sreap and Chea are Cambodian immigrants. They raised Seng living between Tacoma, Wash., and Anchorage, he said.

Detectives will go back to the scene Tuesday, Anchorage Police Department spokeswoman Anita Shell said Monday.

There's no known connection between Active and Seng's family. Active also didn't know the family he attacked in 2009, making the random attacks chilling to police.

"Random homicides are very rare," Anchorage Police Department detective Slawomir Markiewicz told the Anchorage Daily News (http://bit.ly/12JJaF5).

Active attempted to cover his face with paper and his hands when he appeared in court Sunday. Bail was set at $1.5 million.

Active was assigned a defense attorney through the state's Public Defender Agency, but it wasn't immediately clear who will represent him.

"I don't think words can quite accurately describe it. I think he represents an extraordinary danger to the community at a level generally not seen in Anchorage," said prosecutor Jenna Gruenstein in court Sunday.

The Anchorage Daily News reported Monday that Active was charged with violating his probation this spring, but it's not clear how recently he was incarcerated or what kind of correctional supervision he was on at the time of the alleged crime.

Documents show that he was supposed to be on probation until at least 2014.