Chokehold thwarts gas thief

WASILLA — Maybe the would-be thief who tried to make off with gas from the tank of Mike Dablemont’s four-wheeler should’ve looked a little closer at the house near which it was parked.

“It’s says ‘Karate’ in big letters right above the door,” said Sheila Schatz, a martial arts instructor who works with Dablemont.

If the thief had taken the hint, maybe he wouldn’t have been on the receiving end of one of Dablemont’s expert chokeholds. Maybe he wouldn’t be in jail.

Dablemont said the studio for his business, Valley Martial Arts, is connected to his home off Wasilla-Fishhook Road. He was returning there the evening of June 26, from his day job at Spenard Builder’s Supply, when he saw a man on a four-wheeler parked next to Dablemont’s four-wheelers.

“I didn’t really know he was siphoning gas at first,” Dablemont said. “I thought he was going to try to steal the four-wheelers.”

He parked in the driveway to block the man’s exit and got out to talk to him.

“He said, ‘Ah, I need a little gas,’” Dablemont recalled. “I said, ‘So you’re going to steal it from me?’”

The guy took off on his four-wheeler, but didn’t get far before Dablemont had his arm around the man’s throat. The four-wheeler dragged the karate instructor into the woods, at which point Dablemont managed to get a better grip and pulled the would-be thief to the ground.

Dablemont said Friday that during the hullabaloo he didn’t catch the man’s name. As of press time, Alaska State Troopers were unable to provide more information on the case, including the identity of the man or about his arrest.

After the man seemed to stop resisting, “I said O.K., I’m going to loosen up,” Dablemont said. But the loosened hold just prompted more struggling.

“I said, ‘How stupid are you? This is a martial arts school, you’re not going to get away,’” Dablemont said.

The would-be thief asked Dablemont not to call the cops and said that he usually doesn’t do that sort of thing.

“There’s one part of your story that doesn’t add up,” Dablemont recalled telling the man. “You’re carrying a 5-gallon gas can and a siphon hose with you.”

Eventually troopers showed up and took the man to jail, and Dablemont talked to one of the troopers who’d had run-ins with the man before.

“He said, ‘I’m surprised he didn’t try to run from you.’ I said, ‘Oh, he did,’” Dablemont said.

While troopers were there, Dablemont said his karate students began showing up.

“Is it all right with you if I go upstairs and change?” he recalls asking officers.

Classes went on as planned that night.

Schatz said the thief chose the wrong person to steal from and Dablemont said he’d probably agree. He said he’s glad for his martial arts training, since it allowed him to actually do something about the theft.

“Anytime you get a little bit of training it will always help with something like this,” Dablemont said.

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