Adam Johnson
Northern News Services
Published Monday, August 13, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Just one slip was all it took to turn 15 months of house arrest into 15 months in jail for one convicted sex offender.

Charlton Haogak, 20, of Sachs Harbour, was convicted of sexual assault in territorial court in Yellowknife on Friday, Aug.3.

Calling Haogak an "unsophisticated offender," and citing his lack of a criminal record,

Territorial Judge Brian Bruser sentenced him to house arrest.

"There is a real danger that he would leave prison as a worse person," Bruser said.

The charge stemmed from a June 2006 incident in Haogak's home in Sachs Harbour, where he engaged in "digital interference" on a passed-out female guest.

At his sentencing, Haogak looked down at his hands as Bruser offered a warning:

"This is going to work, and if it doesn't work it will be jail for you," he said.

That evening, Haogak's supervisor attempted to contact him at the Yellowknife Inn, where he was ordered to remain until his flight home the next day. She was informed Haogak had left a message he had "gone to meet friends at Bruno's" - a Yellowknife convenience store, said Crown counsel Wayne Gardner.

The supervisor went to the Inn with the RCMP, and Haogak could not be found. Just after midnight, they found him at Yellowknife's Raven Pub, in the possession of a bottle containing liquor.

One of the conditions of his sentence was that he abstain from alcohol.

He was arrested on the spot, and brought once again before the court Tuesday, Aug. 7.

During an additional hearing, defense counsel Brad Enge brought up Haogak's remorse at his mistake, and his mother's unhappiness that he wouldn't be able to help her around with chores. He said from the time of his initial arrest, Haogak had kept the terms of his release without a single breach, but time in Yellowknife was too much to resist.

"I feel really disappointed in myself," Haogak said, wiping tears from his eyes. "I let my mom down."

Territorial Judge Robert Gorin ordered the conditional sentence terminated.

"You will spend the entire unexpired term of your sentence in custody," he told Haogak.