A suspect in the fatal 2011 shooting of his former supervisor at a Spenard hotel is still awaiting trial on murder charges this summer, but has been convicted of federal offenses as an illegal alien.
U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler's office says a federal jury convicted Dominican Republic citizen Javier Martinez, 48, of five counts each of making false claims of U.S. citizenship and aggravated identity theft, as well as one count each of reentry after deportation and possession of a firearm by an illegal alien.
Immigration officers deported Martinez by placing him on a 1992 flight from Miami, although he claimed in court that he wasn't technically deported because he slipped out of the back of the plane.
"Martinez was also convicted of illegally using the name Victor Rodriguez Flores, a resident of Puerto Rico, to apply for an Alaska identification card and to obtain employment at Anchorage hotels including: the Sheraton; the Embassy Suites; the Quality Inn; and the Millennium (Alaskan) Hotel," officials wrote. "Evidence presented at trial showed that Martinez falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen on application forms filed with the Alaska DMV and each of the hotels where he worked."
Martinez worked under that name at the Millennium as a waiter, until he was fired in mid-October of 2011. About a week later, Anchorage police say he returned to the hotel at 4800 Spenard Rd. at about 6:30 p.m. on the night of Oct. 29, finding his former manager -- 55-year-old Kerry Fadely -- and shooting her to death with a pistol.
The incident led to a major response by APD, as members of the department's SWAT team evacuated the hotel and secured the scene. Martinez allegedly ran away from the hotel after the shooting, and police later surrounded his residence and took him into custody in the crime.
Thursday's statement shed some light on the case against Martinez, with prosecutors saying the federal firearms charge involved a Ruger .45-caliber pistol found on the night of Fadely's death.
"The firearm was recovered at the scene along with a letter from Martinez explaining the reasons he was unhappy working at the hotel," prosecutors wrote. "The letter directed the Millennium Hotel to send his final paycheck to the Anchorage jail."
Two Homeland Security Investigations agents testified that Martinez both admitted to them that he'd been deported, and discussed how he obtained the gun retrieved after Fadely's shooting.
"They also testified that when they asked Martinez about the firearm he left at the Millennium Hotel, he stated that it was easier to buy a gun in Anchorage than to buy a pack of cigarettes or a six pack of beer," officials wrote.
According to Loeffler's office, Martinez faces at least 10 years in prison -- a mandatory minimum of two years, served consecutively, on each of the five identity-theft charges. The reentry charge carries up to 20 years in prison, with up to 10 years on the firearms charge and five years on each of the false claims of citizenship.
Martinez also faces a state charge of first-degree murder in Fadely's death. His trial is expected to begin Aug. 26, a day before U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline sentences him on the federal charges.
Channel 2's Kortnie Horazdovsky contributed information to this story.
Contact Chris Klint