Alaska news anchor Maria Athens has been arrested on assault charges—and she’s been banned from her station’s property.
According to a report from local station KTTU, Athens, a news reporter-anchor for the ABC-Fox station KTBY, was arrested on Friday after an altercation with a man in the station’s parking lot.
Athens was charged with fourth-degree assault, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct, and has been released on bond, KTTU reported. Athens has been banned from the property until further notice, a judge ruled. The victim was not identified in reports.
The incident happened shortly after Athens posted a video containing unsubstantiated allegations about Anchorage mayor Ethan Berkowitz on her Facebook account in an apparent tease to an upcoming story. The Anchorage police said a joint investigation with the FBI found no evidence of criminal conduct, and the Anchorage mayor’s office said the allegations were “slanderous” and “categorically false.” Athens never covered the allegations on her evening news program as she had suggested.
The mayor’s office said station general manager Scott Centers “emphatically disavowed his employee’s comments.” Centers has not commented on whether Athens remains an employee at the station.
The story is still developing.