Kidnappers sentenced to serve decades

PALMER — For kidnapping and holding at gunpoint two Big Lake residents, a pair of Anchorage residents received sentences of 30 and 45 years respectively.

At a hearing Feb. 18, Arthur Q. Gray, 25, got the 30-year term. Because a judge found his conduct in the case more serious, Benjamin V. Lega, 20, was handed the 45-year term.

According to court documents, Gray and Lega were caught Feb. 1, 2013, as they drove through Wasilla with a headlight out. Wasilla Police Department made the initial traffic stop.

The driver, it turned out, was a man Gray and Lega were robbing. Gray was in the backseat next to the female victim. Lega was in the front passenger seat.

According to official notes of his testimony in court at the trial for Gray and Lega, one of those officers, Bill Rapson, said the male victim got his attention.

“Hey, man, we are getting robbed right now,” he told the officer, according to the notes. The man then pointed out where the woman was handcuffed in the back seat. When Lega caught on that the jig was up he took off running down the road, but was caught.

The picture painted in log notes of the victim’s testimony is of a quiet night at home that suddenly took a harrowing turn. The woman said in court that she first thought a noise at the door was the male victim. She hushed her dog, but quickly woke up with a gun in her face.

The two men — Gray and Lega — said that they were owed $17,000. The woman said she didn’t owe anyone anything. Gray and Lega decided to get their money back by cutting down her growing marijuana plants — she testified that she uses it medicinally — and stealing the man’s television.

Apparently that wasn’t enough, as they loaded the two people into their car, stopping on the way toward Anchorage to fill up with gas on the man’s credit card and withdraw $500 on the woman’s.

After a trial before a Palmer jury, Gray and Lega were convicted of 15 counts each including robbery and kidnapping. Kidnapping is an unclassified felony and carries the same maximum penalty as murder — 99 years in prison.

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