Fugitive hunting guide arrested in Big Lake

MAT-SU — Responding to an anonymous tip, Alaska State Troopers located fugitive Michael Anthony, “Tony” Roberts, 50, staying at a house in the Big Lake area Wednesday.

Troopers had been searching for Roberts since Oct. 4 and took the extraordinary step of widely distributing a wanted poster featuring his photo.

But on Wednesday morning, troopers acting on the tip got a search warrant to enter the house and found Roberts there hiding underneath a bed. Roberts was arrested at 10:15 a.m. and remanded to the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility.

“The Department of Public Safety appreciates the help from the public in locating Roberts,” according to an AST dispatch announcing the arrest.

Roberts was out on bail Oct. 4 when troopers got word his ankle monitor had been removed.

Troopers went to the home where Roberts was staying while he was out of jail and found that a grinder had apparently been used to cut the ankle monitor and Roberts had fled.

“Roberts is facing charges in a total of seven criminal cases. Current charges include guiding without a guiding license, flying without a pilot’s license, driving with a revoked license and more,” troopers report.

Roberts had been released from jail in February following a conviction relating to the shooting of a moose the same day his party flew in. He was a well-known persons to troopers, especially in the Susitna Valley.

“Roberts was previously the subject of a multi-week manhunt in 1999 when he fled from a state trooper arrest team after undercover officers, posing as hunting clients, witnessed Roberts committing numerous serious wildlife offenses,” according to troopers.

Fleeing an AST helicopter on foot in September 1999, Roberts ran into the woods near Talkeetna and disappeared for about eight months, according to Frontiersman news reports at the time. Acting on a tip, Roberts was captured in May 2000 in Trapper Creek, within five miles of where the search began.

Law enforcement at that time reported Roberts was difficult to find or track because he had no paper trail to follow. There were no records he had licensed an airplane or vehicle, and no records of any bank accounts or credit cards.

Roberts’ criminal history, according to troopers, involves drunken driving, numerous guiding offenses, assault, forgery and driving without a license.

Reporter Greg Johnson contributed to this report. Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.