From the blotter: Stealing CDs, ramming pedestrian bring lots of trouble

PALMER — Police say a shoplifter running from Fred Meyer wound up hitting a pedestrian in the parking lot Saturday.

In his affidavit, Palmer police officer James Gipson wrote that Trevor Roy Allen Poppino, 25, of Palmer, was spotted shoving CDs down the front of his pants. Police were called to the store at 9:56 p.m.

Gipson wrote that store security spotted Poppino stealing the CDs and a concerned citizen confronted him. Poppino ran outside to his car.

Two off-duty Anchorage police officers joined the citizen in the parking lot and tried to corner Poppino.

Poppino backed his car into a pickup, scratching it, then tried to move forward but the citizen stood in his way to try and stop him, Gipson wrote.

“Poppino accelerated hard toward him causing him to throw his hands forward to prevent the bumper of the car from striking his legs,” Gipson wrote.

Gipson said the off-duty officers told him the car pushed the citizen forward. The car managed to get away.

Gipson said he drove to Poppino’s house and talked to him. He said Poppino at first denied going to the store, then said he did. He said he didn’t know why the men chased him and that he was “scared for his life” and ran away.

The officer said he talked to the car’s owner, who told him Poppino took the car without her permission. Gipson said he also talked to store security who told him tapes of the shoplifting would be available in a couple of days.

Poppino was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $10,000 bail, charged with assault, vehicle heft, theft, driving on a suspended license, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

Wrong place amd decisions, numerous charges

PALMER — Police say a man who tried to force his way into an apartment later rounded up friends via phone calls from the police department’s lobby to go fight the man who wouldn’t let him in.

According to a Palmer Police Department press release, police were called to an apartment Saturday where Lance Taylor Rhoades, 24, of Palmer, “was contacted in a highly intoxicated state after causing a disturbance when he appeared at a wrong address and demanded entry, attempting to force his way inside.”

Police say they drove Rhoades to the police department where he was to wait in the lobby for his mom to pick him up.

“Rhoades contacted several intoxicated friends by phone and asked that they meet him at the same address to fight the male from the apartment,” police say.

They say that Rhoades told his friends he’d been jumped. Rhoades, Alexander Martiniano Rhoades, 21, Jason Anthony Lopez, 26, Grant James Woodard, 21, and Tyler Kevin Moore, 21, all of Palmer, then showed up at the apartment. Alexander Rhoades kicked in the door, police said.

“Palmer officers responded again and Lance Rhoades and his friends attempted to run from the scene. All were caught or contacted shortly thereafter,” the press release states.

All five received summonses for disorderly conduct. Lance Rhoades got a second disorderly conduct summons and a third for assault. Alexander Rhoades got one for criminal mischief.

Guard rescue squad pulls hunter from gorge

MAT-SU — A hunter whose sheep fell into a gorge near the Knik Glacier Sunday went in after it but needed a helicopter to get back out, the Alaska Air National Guard reports in a press release.

According to the press release, the call to respond to the gorge came at 12;50 p.m. The guard sent a Pave Hawk helicopter from the 210th Rescue Squadron carrying para-rescuemen from the 212th Rescue Squadron.

According to the guard, the quickest, easiest way to rescue the hunter was to hoist him up to the helicopter. So that’s what they did. The hunter was not hurt.