From the Blotter: Thief makes off with backhoe; video possible

WASILLA — Sandra Wright said she hopes whoever stole the backhoe from the business she and her husband owns was just looking for a joyride.

If they weren’t intending to bring it home, she said, maybe it’ll be easier to find.

Failing that, she hopes that somebody will see the fliers she’s been putting up and realize their friend or neighbor might not be telling the truth about where his new backhoe came from.

The backhoe went missing from the Shell Station near Mile 38 Parks Highway — on the highway’s southern edge right next to the Hyer Road exit — at about 11 p.m. Saturday.

Wright said it took some guts to remove the backhoe because the gas station and the liquor store were open. The video cameras were on. She said troopers are working to enhance the video footage of the person driving off and hopefully identify the thief.

She’s asking anyone with information to call 746-0964 or 354-1751.

Wright’s wasn’t the only piece of heavy equipment stolen in the Valley this summer. Troopers reported Tuesday they’d arrested a Palmer man for allegedly taking a 2004 Caterpillar loader from Mile 76 Parks Highway.

Troopers first got wind of the missing loader at 7:35 p.m. on June 14. On July 28 they got an anonymous tip that Raymond Whittock, 40, of Palmer, was the culprit.

A search warrant served on a home on Cunningham Road in Palmer turned up the loader, it’s bucket and its lifting forks.

The warrant also turned up eight marijuana plants.

Whittock was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility charged with theft, tampering with evidence and drug misconduct. His bail was set at $10,000. Jail records Thursday afternoon showed he’d since bailed out.

Squabble draws cops,

multiple charges

WASILLA — Alaska State Troopers said it took them several minutes to subdue suspect and, once he was in the police car, he wasn’t quite done fighting.

At 12:50 a.m. Wednesday at the Shell parking lot on Vine Road and Parks Highway troopers spotted a vehicle in which a man and a woman were possibly fighting, according to a trooper press statement.

Troopers say James Worden, 31, of Wasilla, immediately challenged them to a fight. They tried to arrest him. He fought back. Finally, after a struggle, Worden was in the patrol car.

“Worden attempted to break out a patrol car window and assaulted a trooper as the trooper was trying to restrain him,” the press release states.

Worden was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $2,000 bail on charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assault. Prison records Thursday afternoon showed he was still there.

The driver of the car, Tracy Allison, 39, of Wasilla, also went to Mat-Su Pre-Trial that night. She was charged with drunken driving and driving on a revoked license with bail set at $5,500. Jail records Thursday showed she was still there as well.

—Andrew Wellner