Arthur Sammy Heckman Sr. has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of unlawful interference with an election after illegally canceling a local 2023 election and hiding the results of a 2022 election while serving as acting mayor of Pilot Station.
The Alaska Department of Law announced the plea deal on Thursday by email. It did not immediately answer a request for a copy of the plea deal and associated documents.
Pilot Station is a town of about 600 people in Southwest Alaska, on the Yukon River.
Heckman and city clerk Ruthie Borromeo were indicted in July 2024 by a grand jury on eight felonies apiece for their activities in Pilot Station. Charges remain pending against Borromeo, according to online court records.
According to the Alaska Department of Law’s email, Heckman took office in May 2022 after the death of Mayor Nicky Myers.
Under Pilot Station’s municipal code, Heckman should have served as interim mayor only until the October 2022 municipal election, when a permanent mayor would be chosen.
According to state prosecutors, Heckman directed that ballots from the October 2022 election be kept in a locked filing cabinet and not counted.
A year later, he directed that the October 2023 municipal election not be held.
Pilot Station residents reported Heckman’s actions to the Department of Law, whose Office of Special Prosecutions brought charges against both Heckman and Borromeo.
It was not immediately clear why it took two years for Heckman’s actions to come to light.
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. This article originally appeared online at alaskabeacon.com. Alaska Beacon, an affiliate of States Newsroom, is an independent, nonpartisan news organization focused on connecting Alaskans to their state government.
