Jailhouse calls lead to more charges

PALMER — A man accused of possessing heroin has seen a new slate of felonies tacked onto his case after prosecutors say he was caught making calls from prison asking potential witnesses to perjure themselves.

John Burk, 24, was apparently, “Trying to get people to take the charges for him,” Assistant District Attorney Trina Sears said.

At a hearing Monday scheduled to go over his motion to have the case dismissed, Burk’s attorney, public defender Nathaniel Peters, said he might end up having to withdraw from the case.

“Miss Sears says I’m personally mentioned in many of the conversations,” Peters told Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler.

Wasilla Police initially pulled Burk over in October of last year driving a blue Chevrolet Monte Carlo that had reportedly been swerving, at times into the ditch, on the Parks Highway heading north.

In the Taco Bell parking lot Wasilla Police Officer Dan Bennett called Burk’s probation officer and got permission to look in the car. On the floorboard he found a plastic wrap filled with heroin.

Cynthia Ramirez, 22, was also charged in the case. She was a passenger in the car and told officers they’d just gotten back from Anchorage where Burk had scored a gram of heroin for $300.

“Johnny Burk denied any knowledge of the heroin. When presented with what Cynthia Ramirez stated to the police he yelled across to Cynthia Ramirez, his girlfriend, that he was going to kill her,” Bennett wrote in his affidavit filed at the time.

That incident netted Burk a C felony count of drug possession and a misdemeanor charge of driving without a license.

But the alleged calls from jail netted him another C felony for witness tampering plus four more serious B felonies for soliciting perjury and interfering with official proceedings.

Court records show that Ramirez has since settled her case, agreeing to plead guilty to the only count alleged — drug possession — and accept a 24-month prison term with 20 suspended for four to serve.

She set a new trial date for May 11 and told Peters that by April 7 he should file a request for a new hearing or the Office of Public Advocacy should have filed to take the case over from him.