Anchorage felon nabbed near Wasilla

MAT-SU — An Anchorage man with a rap sheet including a handful of violent crimes was arrested Sunday after a brief pursuit.

According to Alaska State Troopers, an officer with the troopers’ Mat-Su Narcotics Team spotted Myron Clark, 22, of Anchorage, at the Tesoro station on Seward-Meridian Parkway at 6:47 p.m. The officer radioed dispatch to let them know.

Troopers say a brief pursuit ensued, but Clark was run to the ground and arrested on an outstanding warrant. The charges? Robbery, kidnapping, assault and burglary.

Court records show the charges were filed in Anchorage in late February. Anchorage Police Department Spokesman Lt. Dave Parker said he didn’t have any information on that case and suggested it might belong to the Alaska State Troopers. State offices were closed Monday for Seward’s Day and inquiries with the agency’s spokeswoman did not yield any information.

But, Parker said, Clark is not an unknown quantity in Anchorage.

“We’ve met him before,” he said, reading Clark’s rap sheet.

In 2008, Clark was one of a handful of suspects arrested for a vehicle theft at Taku Lake Park in Anchorage. In that case, Parker said, reading from police reports, a group of teens, including Clark, approached a man in his pickup and asked for a cigarette. The man got out and gave the kids a smoke.

“The conversation turned to him owing the kids money for the cigarette which he didn’t understand because he gave the cigarette to the guy,” Parker said.

The encounter turned violent, Parker said, with the teens punching the guy, who tried to retreat back to his pickup only to find someone had started it and was driving away. The kids who were punching him jumped in the back.

Parker said the man called a cab to take him home and that police eventually tracked the pickup to where it was abandoned. From there, a police dog found the kids hiding in the woods.

He said he couldn’t give the names of any of Clark’s accomplices because they were all juveniles under the age of 18.

Though the case was only charged as a vehicle theft, Parker said it fit the bill for a more serious charge.

“It revolved around the theft of a vehicle and it should have been strong-arm robbery,” he said.

Court records show that case was closed out in August of last year when Clark pleaded guilty to vehicle theft.

In addition to the outstanding warrant, Clark picked up a charge of eluding arrest in Palmer, according to the trooper press statement. He was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $100,000 bail. Court records show he made one appearance in Palmer Court. Jail records show he was then transferred to the Anchorage Correctional Complex.

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