2 Teen-Age Robbers Handed Over to Tribe for Expected Banishment

Two teen-agers who admitted robbing a pizza deliveryman have been handed over to a tribal judge on their way to an expected banishment on remote Alaskan islands.

Adrian Guthrie and Simon Roberts, who had been jailed since shortly after the August, 1993, attack, were released Wednesday to tribal Judge Rudy James.

Hours earlier, Superior Court Judge James Allendoerfer signed an order giving custody of the 17-year-olds to the tribal judge.

Allendoerfer agreed to release the two for 18 months, during which time they will be judged by a traditional tribal court in Alaska.

James said the pair would likely be banished to remote islands for a year with the hope the experience would spiritually cleanse them. They would be provided tools and wilderness training before leaving.

The teen-agers and their families would probably also have to pay restitution to the victim, James said.

Allendoerfer would also have the option of sentencing them to prison afterward.

Guthrie and Roberts, from Klawock on Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island, were visiting relatives last August when they attacked pizza deliveryman Tim Whittlesey. They pleaded guilty in May to first-degree robbery.

Whittlesey, who was hit with a baseball bat, suffered permanent vision and hearing loss.