5 arrested in pair of related robberies

WASILLA — Five people were arrested in the wake of a pair of local robberies police say are related.

According to an affidavit Wasilla Police Sgt. Joel Smith filed in court, police first got wind of a robbery — actually, more of an attempted robbery — at 9:23 p.m., Dec. 30. Two men said they’d parked at Taco Bell and went inside to eat.

“While inside, they saw someone inside of their vehicle,” Smith wrote.

One of the men went outside to investigate and saw a man lying down in the front seat trying to steal the stereo. Having been confronted, the man got up and pushed away his confronter.

“The subject told (the vehicle’s owner) to get out of the way our he would be stabbed. (The vehicle’s owner) told the officer he got out of the way so he wouldn’t be stabbed,” Smith wrote.

That man fled empty-handed in a Chevy Blazer. Police were still looking for him when the second robbery was reported.

According to an affidavit Wasilla Police Officer Kristaps Petersons filed in court, at 1:28 a.m. a man called from the Lake Lucille Best Western. The man told Petersons he’d driven in from Valdez to hang out with a woman named Velvet Fox, 25. The pair apparently met earlier the previous day at a Wasilla home. Later, the man told Petersons, Fox told him to go to the hotel.

When he pulled up he parked next to a Chevy Blazer. Two men got out of that Blazer and demanded his money.

“(He) told him his wallet was on the floor of his truck and to take the money,” Petersons wrote.

The man told officers the two men started punching him, ripping his sweater and trying to pull him from the pickup. They grabbed his keys, his cell phone and other things.

Petersons went to the house where the man had told him he’d originally met Fox on Bertha Lane. The Blazer was in the driveway and at one point was about to leave before Petersons turned on his emergency lights. Three Wasilla Police officers ordered everyone out of the Blazer and onto the ground.

There were two people in the Blazer, both of whom — Joe Reese, 32, and Shila Sherwood, 22 — admitted to involvement in the Best Western robbery and gave officers other useful information.

Reese told officers that Jeffrey Moore, 24, was the other man beating on the guy in the hotel parking lot. Moore was also arrested.

Smith writes that in Reese’s pocket he found a pill bottle bearing the name of the man who’d been assaulted in the hotel parking lot. He said the man from the hotel indentified Reese and Moore as his attackers.

As for Sherwood, she told officers she’d been involved in the incident at Taco Bell.

“She said she was in the Blazer at Taco Bell with Joe Hale. She told me Hale broke into a car in the parking lot. She said Hale had been drinking and was acting crazy this evening and didn’t know why he broke into the car,” Smith wrote.

Officers didn’t need to go far to find Hale. While they were talking with the suspects out on the lawn, Hale, 31, stormed out of the home. Apparently he owned it.

“Hale was yelling at officers and using profanity, but complied with requests to lay down on the ground and put his hands behind his back. Whenever officers would attempt to talk to him, he would start to yell and use profanity demanding an explanation of what was occurring. As Officer (Ben) Dudley did a pat-down search on Hale, Hale kicked officer Dudley in the shin,” Smith wrote.

Court records show Sherwood has since been charged with methamphetamine-related drug misconduct charges.

Reese, Moore and Fox were all arrested for robbery. Reese and Moore also were charged with assault and theft. On Jan. 7 a grand jury formally charged Hale with robbery and disorderly conduct.

Court and jail records seem to indicate Sherwood has not been arrested. Everyone else — Fox, Moore, Reese and Hale — were all listed as inmates in various facilities as of Saturday afternoon.

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