Accused purse thief arrested for robbery

June 21, 2005

KATE GOLDEN/Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - One of two men charged with robbing another man at gunpoint in a Wasilla apartment last Tuesday had just posted bail for snatching a purse the day before from a Carrs shopper's grocery cart.

After 52-year-old Diane Orr ran yelling after the alleged purse thief, shoppers and police tracked his flight on foot from the store to the front of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. There, 22-year-old Jeremy Hildebrand was arrested without incident. Orr told police he was working with a woman who was pushing a baby in a stroller, but the woman was neither identified nor charged.

Hildebrand was charged with second-degree theft, a Class C felony with a maximum possible penalty of five years in prison, and posted the requisite $500 bond at Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility that night.

At 11:11 p.m. the next night, 20-year-old Kenny Hannaman of Wasilla told police dispatch that Hildebrand and 22-year-old Cole Liptak of Wasilla jumped him as soon as he came in the door of Hildebrand's apartment in the 1000 block of Lucille Street.

The report came after the event; when Wasilla police officer Angella Long responded, Hannaman said the two men had already fled in a dark-colored Jeep.

Hannaman told Long he had come up to visit Hildebrand. They all knew each other from growing up in the Valley, Long said, but she had no other details on why he was visiting.

They fought. Hannaman was on the ground, he told Long. Liptak or Hildebrand took the wallet out of Hannaman's pocket, and removed the roughly $350 in cash it held, and threw the wallet back at him, he told Long.

Hannaman fought to get it back, but as Hannaman got up, Liptak pulled a gun out and pointed it at him, he told Long. If Hannaman continued to fight, Liptak allegedly told him, he'd shoot him.

"Kenny decided not to fight anymore at that point," Long said.

Long found Liptak later: She found Liptak's car, she said, and sat on it until he showed up in the Jeep.

As for Hildebrand, Long got a tip from a neighbor that he'd returned briefly to his apartment just after the incident. She went back, too.

He was there. She arrested him without incident.

Hannaman, she said, complained of some soreness on the side of his head, but had no serious injuries.

The victim described a handgun consistent with a 9-millimeter Glock Long found in Liptak's possession during her investigation. The gun held a full magazine, but no rounds were chambered.

That semiautomatic gun's safety is built into the trigger release. Hannaman would have had no way of knowing, if someone pointed it at him, whether the gun was poised to shoot.

Liptak and Hildebrand were booked at Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on charges of first-degree robbery, a Class A felony, in lieu of $50,000 cash or corporate bond plus a court-approved third party.

Hildebrand was still there Monday evening. Liptak was transported to an Anchorage facility.

Long said police are still investigating whether there may be other charges.

Kate Golden may be reached at 352-2284 or kate.golden@frontiersman.com.