Escapee nabbed after going on burglary spree

YENTNA RIVER — A man who walked away from a halfway house in Anchorage burglarized a swath of rural cabins on the western edge of the Mat-Su Borough last week.

According to an Alaska State Trooper press statement, the first burglary on the Yentna River was reported at 1:18 p.m., Feb. 11.

“Over the next week, troopers received several more burglary reports going up the river,” according to the press statement.

On Feb. 17, troopers caught Brian E. Church, 52, of Anchorage, apparently while breaking into a cabin.

According to troopers, Church had escaped from a halfway house 12 days prior. State Department of Corrections spokesman Richard Schmitz said Monday that Church walked away from the Glenwood Center in Anchorage.

“The escape would occur when you don’t come home from work or something like that,” Schmitz said. “Some people might have more restrictions, but it’s not a locked facility.”

Or at least not nearly as secure as a prison, Schmitz said.

Church is in a secure facility now. Jail records list him as an inmate at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility, where troopers report he is being held on $25,000 bail.

Troopers say they believe Church broke into at least four cabins along the Yentna, taking numerous personal items and damaging buildings. According to the press release, his eventual goal was “to escape to the Bush.”

Court records show this isn’t Church’s first arrest for theft. The earliest case in the database dates was in 1983 and relates to a string of forgeries he was arrested for in Fairbanks. Records show he took the case to trial and lost.

In Anchorage in 2003, he was charged with burglary, but that case was dismissed. In Palmer that same year he faced burglary, trespassing and criminal mischief charges. The case ended with him pleading no contest to the burglary count and prosecutors dismissing the rest. Again in 2003 in Anchorage, he was charged with burglary, theft, vehicle theft, criminal mischief and credit card fraud. The case ended like it did in Palmer — a no contest plea on the burglary charge.

Court records also show this isn’t Church’s first time facing escape charges. In Palmer in 1997, he was charged with second-degree escape. The charge in question could relate to anything from cutting an ankle monitor and leaving house arrest to fleeing a police car while under arrest from a felony to a jailbreak.

Details of Church’s court cases were unavailable as of press time as courthouses were closed for Presidents Day. Alaska State Trooper Spokeswoman Megan Peters had no additional information to offer Monday.

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