Burglary rash irritating Mat-Su

MAT-SU -- Recent reports of burglaries and arrests of burglary suspects have prompted many Valley residents to wonder if the area is in the midst of a crime wave. Some statistics show that during the last few months the burglars have been active, but nobody draws a bold line between the numbers to indicate whether or not there is crime wave going on.

Alaska State Troopers counted slightly fewer Mat-Su area burglaries in 2002 (466) than in 2001 (478), however, the frequency of burglaries accelerated toward the end of the year, according to statistics provided by troopers. In November and December 2001, troopers investigated 67 burglary reports. In 2002 trooper statistics show 92 burglaries during the same two month period.

"Even though we're down for the year, we showed a significant increase in November and December from the same two months last year," trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson said.

The police departments in both Palmer and Wasilla reported a similar rise in burglaries during the 2002 (see sidebar).

January brought some victories for the good guys. The troopers reported two recent arrests.

In Wasilla, two juveniles and 18-year-old John Lee Burk were charged with burglary after three men dressed in black broke down the front door of 80-year-old Harriette Viets' house. Viets screamed at the burglars and then had to take cover when one of them fired a pistol at her while running away. Burk and two juveniles --15-year-old Ross A. Knapp and 13-year-old Dustin G. Martin -- were each charged with first-degree burglary, a class B felony. Burk was charged with first-degree attempted murder. Troopers said in a press release that the three teen-agers are suspects in at least 10 other burglaries or thefts and could be responsible for more than $20,000

in stolen property and

damaged property.

The third arrest was in Palmer, when Eric L. Smith, 33, of Anchorage, was pulled over for a traffic violation by Palmer police. Smith was found to be in possession of two stolen snowmachines, according to troopers who assisted with the traffic stop. Smith was charged with second-degree theft by receiving. One of the machines -- a 2000 Ski-doo MX-Z 700 -- was reported stolen last November from a shop at Mile 1.5 Big Lake Road, according to an affidavit troopers filed in court.

The affidavit also said Smith was questioned about the MX-Z 700 at the time of the traffic stop. Smith told troopers he didn't know the machine was stolen, he had borrowed it from a man he worked with, and he didn't know where that person lived or how troopers could contact him, according to the affidavit.

Sgt. Dennis Ponder of the Palmer trooper post said other property has been recovered in recent weeks. One recovery was made when a stolen vehicle was found abandoned. Troopers found collector's coins and savings bonds from a home invasion burglary inside the vehicle. In another case, Ponder was able to recover power tools from a pawn shop in Anchorage two weeks ago.

"In that case, we were fortunate because the owner had a good record of his tools that included serial numbers of his power tools," Ponder said.

The Palmer trooper post does not have a specific burglary investigation detail, but Ponder has been assigned to burglaries because of previous experience he has in investigations. Ponder said that while Alaska law requires pawn shops to keep certain records, the Valley law enforcement has a slight disadvantage when compared to Anchorage when it comes to recovering items that might have been pawned or sold to a business.

That's because in Anchorage, a municipal ordinance requires all such businesses to keep records of items purchased or held against a loan in a similar electronic format. The Anchorage Police Department employs civilian property clerks who receive inventory data from the shops, compile it, and cross check it with a data base of items that are reported stolen. Ponder said that while most Valley businesses that deal in or sell used goods are cooperative with the troopers, there is no requirement locally for delivering inventory data in a specific format.

"Each [business] has a different means of meeting the statues," Ponder said. "They have different software and different techniques."