Vic Kohring

Who is Vic Kohring?

Victor H. "Vic" Kohring is a former Alaska State legislator. He was elected to seven consecutive two-year terms in the Alaska House of Representatives, beginning in 1994. Kohring represented District 14, Wasilla.

Kohring was indicted on federal bribery and extortion charges on May 4, 2007. He, along with former state legislators Pete Kott and Bruce Weyhrauch, were accused of soliciting and accepting bribes from VECO, an oilfield services company. Their offices were among 20 searched by FBI agents on August 31, 2006. Kohring resigned his seat on June 20, 2007.

On November 1, 2007, a federal jury found Kohring guilty in three out of four criminal charges and acquitted on the fourth, a charge of extortion. In May 2008, he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Kohring asked outgoing President George W. Bush for a pardon that was not granted.

Kohring was released on June 11, 2009. The conviction was vacated, and in 2011, Kohring agreed to plead guilty in exchange for being sentenced to time served and conditions on his release.

United States Senator Ted Stevens was also charged and convicted in a case that hinged, in part, on the prosecution of Kohring. Stevens' convictions, too, were eventually vacated, because of prosecutorial misconduct.