On August 20, the day of the Alaska primary election, two officials from Pilot Station will face Bethel Superior Court on charges of criminal election interference in their small community on the edge of Alaska.

Incumbent Mayor Arthur Heckman Sr. and City Clerk Ruthie Borromeo face eight charges each for election law violations in October 2022 and 2023.

They are accused of crimes such as using violence, threats, intimidation and bribery to induce an election official to neglect his duties. They are accused of delaying the dispatch of the required election materials and of deliberately failing to perform their duties. They are accused of manipulating the election results.

Pilot Station is located on the Yukon River in western Alaska, was founded in 1969 and has a population of about 600. It is a second class town with six municipal employees and is part of the Lower Yukon School District. Regular elections are held on the first Tuesday in October.

Pilot Station is a 95% subsistence-based Yup’ik village. Former mayor Nicky Myers died when his snowmobile trip broke through the ice of the Yukon River on April 29, 2022. Heckman Sr. became acting mayor and the first case of these crimes occurred in October of that year.

Pilot Station is represented in the Alaska Legislature by Senator Donny Olson and Representative Neal Foster.