2 teens charged in home invasion

MAT-SU — Alaska State Troopers announced Friday they arrested two teenagers they believe were involved in a New Year’s Eve home invasion in Talkeetna.

Travis Wharton, 19, of Talkeetna and Tanner Comoza, 19, of Anchorage were jailed in Palmer and Soldotna respectively last week, both charged with the home invasion.

Troopers say at 7 a.m. Dec. 31, they responded to a home near Mile 4 Montana Creek Road where two men had asked to use the telephone, then forced their way inside. The woman who lives at the house reported that she and her two dogs were assaulted and the two men made off with a .22-caliber rifle, $5,000 in jewelry and an undisclosed amount of cash.

In a statement Trooper Terrence Shanigan filed with the case, he says the woman told him the two men, one of whom had a knife, held her down and punched her in the head and body. She said her two Labrador retrievers tried to intervene, but fled after the two men repeatedly kicked them.

The woman said she took a swing at the men with a MagLite flashlight, hitting one of them in the face, according to Shanigan’s affidavit. Eventually, the two men bound her hands with a telephone cord.

In a press statement Friday, troopers say they caught up with Comoza at 11:54 p.m. Wednesday while looking into a theft of $52 worth of booze from the 4 Royals Parker liquor store in the Kenai area.

According to Shanigan’s affidavit, Comoza told Soldotna troopers he’d been thinking about turning himself in for the home invasion and told them Wharton was his accomplice. He said he and Wharton had hoped the house would be deserted when they showed up to steal more than 25 marijuana plants Wharton knew the woman was growing.

When the woman answered the door, Comoza reportedly told troopers Wharton forced his way in and Comoza followed. He said he left Wharton with the woman and went to cut the plants down. He said he returned to find Wharton punching her, Shanigan says. Comoza said the pair drove to Anchorage, split up the marijuana and parted company. Wharton took the rifle. Comoza said he didn’t know what else Wharton might have taken from the home.

Troopers in Talkeetna had already been interviewing Wharton’s family and friends when Soldotna troopers found Comoza, Shanigan says. Troopers have interviewed Wharton four times since the robbery. The first time he denied knowing the woman. Later he said he’d been to her house once. In a third interview he said he’d been there twice.

Comoza was jailed at the Wildwood Pre-Trial Facility in Kenai and Wharton at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility in Palmer, according to the press statement from troopers.

Both are charged with six felonies, including robbery, assault, burglary, kidnapping and theft. They are being held on $50,000 bail and will need to seek out a third party to watch over them if released.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiers-man.com or 352-2270.