Convicted burglar: ‘Getting caught … saved my life’

PALMER — Saying he has good prospects for rehabilitation, a judge Wednesday sentenced a 19-year-old man to three years in prison for armed robbery and burglary.

Shayne Anselm said he was grateful to the officers who arrested him in May 2013 after a Talkeetna homeowner chased him down in the woods having walked in on him and a group of other men piling up guns they intended to steal.

“Getting caught was the one thing that saved my life,” Anselm told the court. “I wish it wouldn’t have taken such dramatic steps in ruining victims lives to clear my head.”

After his arrest in Talkeetna, troopers investigating a March 2013 hold-up of the Big Lake Tesoro also fingered him for the crime. In that case, Anselm walked into the store wearing sunglasses and a bandana, flashed a gun at the clerk and made off with $170 from the till.

Assistant District Attorney Melissa Wininger-Howard told Superior Court Judge Greg Heath that a three-year sentence — two for robbery and one for burglary — was fair.

“He is taking responsibility for both of these cases,” she said.

She said that lately, the Valley has taken notice of property crimes and that Alaska State Troopers have formed an investigative unit to tackle them.

“Our community is very invested in property crimes and want offenders to be held accountable,” she said.

She noted that Anselm was reportedly high on bath salts when he committed the burglary. She said that drug treatment and a supportive family will be key.

“The state realizes he does have a support network and he does have people who are here supporting him,” she said, referring to family members in the viewing gallery. “I wish he would’ve taken advantage of that support back in March and May.”

Anselm’s attorney in the burglary case, Krista Maciolek, said that in the burglary case, her client was acting at the behest of one of his co-defendants, the so-called mastermind of the crime.

“There’s a lot of maturing that needs to happen with Mr. Anselm,” she said.

She said that in his time out on bail as the court case moved forward, Anselm had been a big help to his grandmother. His grandfather died during the course of the case and Anselm had helped her in the aftermath, stacking wood and plowing snow at her Willow home. She said that probably the biggest punishment in the case will be simply the conviction, which will close off numerous job opportunities.

“He’s starting out his life, his adult life, as a double felon,” Maciolek said.

Anselm’s other attorney, Hanna Thorssin-Bahri, pointed to some evidence in the case that suggested maybe Anselm was trying to prove himself to his friends.

“He felt inadequate to these guys and was trying to make himself appear tougher than he was,” Thorssin-Bahri said.

In deciding to take Wininger-Howard’s recommendation for a sentence, Heath pointed to Anselm’s youth and prospects for rehabilitation. But, he said, the crime of robbery, holding up a convenience store with a gun, is a very serious one.

“This easily could’ve gone south and we’d be looking at a murder-one or a felony murder,” he said. “This wasn’t just a theft or selling drugs, this was a robbery case.”

He ended the hearing by wishing Anselm well. “Sir, good luck to you. I hope everything you said was true and honest and you take your treatment seriously.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270

or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.