Man steals Lexus, then flees police on foot

WASILLA — Desmond Butts is glad to have his car back. When he heard it had been stolen Butts knew it could have turned out much worse.

“I’m just glad somebody didn’t torch it or hurt somebody,” Butts said.

How the car wound up stolen, though, is something of a convoluted story. Butts tracked the whole thing from Texas, where he now lives. Until recently, he ran Alaskan Splendor Limousines out of Wasilla. He sold off most of that business, but still owns a firm in Alaska, Mat-Su Medical Transport, that shuttles patients to and from medical appointments.

The car in question is a blue, sporty, 2004 Lexus he bought because it came at a good price.

“It’s a little racer,” Butts said. “You would see it in one of those ‘Fast and the Furious’ movies.”

His driver was using the Lexus to pick up a patient at around 4:30 a.m., Wednesday from an apartment complex on Windy Brook Lane, which is across the Palmer-Wasilla Highway from Matanuska Creamery.

“They went in, and three minutes later they came out and the car was gone at 4:30 in the morning when the wind was blowing,” Butts said.

When he got the news that the Lexus had been stolen, he immediately started working with Alaska State Troopers and calling around for information.

A trooper press statement details what happened about an hour after the car was stolen.

“At approximately 05:25 hours, Wasilla police officers located the vehicle and attempted to conduct a traffic stop on Schrock Road, Wasilla,” the report says. “The vehicle failed to yield and subsequently drove into the ditch on Bayberry Circle and Huckleberry Drive.”

The driver, whom troopers identify as Robert D. Casello, 24, of Wasilla, took off on foot. Troopers and WPD officers gave chase and caught him shortly after 6:30 a.m. on Schwald Road.

“They had to tackle him in the snow,” is how Butts described it, based on what he was told.

He said the patient his guy was picking up had to miss his dialysis appointment that day, which can be dangerous, because dialysis patients need the procedure done three times a week, Butts said. Luckily, the patient only had to wait a few days, he said.

Speaking Friday afternoon, Butts said his car had already been returned, but he’s not sure what shape it’s in.

“I don’t know if it is drivable,” Butts said. “They said there might be some damage to the front end.”

He said he has a spare — a Chrysler 300. But having the Lexus back is a relief, considering he’s got a bit of cash tied up in it. He bought it and fixed it up after it had been in a wreck.

“I just put 6 grand in it,” he said, but it wasn’t insured. “Since it’s paid for I just liabilitied it.”

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