Family patriarch indicted on 30 felony counts

A man who lived with his wife and 15 children inside Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, and engaged in a widely publicized feud with the park service, has been charged with numerous counts of sexual assault and incest.

Alaska State Troopers searched Monday for Robert A. Hale, 64, who goes by the name Papa Pilgrim. "He could be anywhere," said agency spokesman Greg Wilkinson.

Hale was indicted Thursday by a state grand jury on 30 felony counts, including 10 counts of sexual assault, one count of kidnapping, eight counts of incest, eight counts of coercion and three counts of assault. The indictment lists just one victim.

Hale and his family bought a 410-acre (164-hectare) parcel inside the 13.2 million-acre (5.28-million-hectare) national park in spring 2002. The family claimed to be deeply religious and wanted to live off the land, informs the AP.