Former legislator Victor Kohring, age 64, has died in a car accident.
On Tuesday at 5:06 pm, the Alaska State Troopers were notified of a vehicle collision near mile 53 of the Glenn Highway north of Palmer. Troopers and first responders immediately responded to the scene.
Troopers came upon a Toyota minivan that had collided head-on with a semi-truck after crossing the center line for unknown reasons. Kohring was the sole occupant of the minivan and was declared deceased on the scene.
The AST Bureau of Highway Patrol conducted an investigation of the crash scene and assumed case responsibility for the investigation. Kohring’s remains were transported to the State Medical Examiner for autopsy. The Glenn Highway was closed in both directions for approximately two hours as Troopers documented the scene and cleared the roadway.
Kohring served in the Alaska House of Representatives until 2007, when he resigned during a corruption probe, after serving seven terms, beginning in 1994. After the FBI searched his offices in Juneau, Kohring was indicted on federal bribery and extortion charges on May 4, 2007, accused of soliciting and accepting bribes from VECO, an oilfield services company.
On Nov. 1, 2007, a federal jury found Kohring guilty in three out of four criminal charges and acquitted on the fourth, a charge of extortion. He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, but then the conviction was vacated in 2011, and Kohring agreed to plead guilty in exchange for being sentenced to time served, and conditions for his release, which was June 11, 2009.
Kohring came to Alaska as a child from Lake Zurich, IL, after traveling the Alaska-Canada Highway with his family. They settled in Chugiak, and moved to Anchorage in 1969. Kohring worked in construction after he graduated from Dimond High. He graduated from Alaska Pacific University in 1987 and 1989 with an undergraduate degree in Management Science and a graduate degree in Business Administration (MBA), respectively. Since 1976, he had been a resident of Wasilla, where he served on the Wasilla Planning and Utilities Commission, on the board of Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, and in other roles.
