Palmer man arrested for revenge burglary

PALMER — Alaska State Troopers say a man mad at his coworker disguised his license plate, pried open a window of the coworker’s apartment and stole his laptop Tuesday.

According to court documents that trooper Pierre Burkett filed in the case against Cody Carlson, 19, the report about the burglary on Quiet Circle came in just after 1:30 p.m., Tuesday. Before Burkett and another trooper could even get there, troopers on the road had pulled over the suspect’s car.

Arriving on scene, Burkett said a woman told troopers that she’d seen a skinny white male walk by her on the landing of the building’s second floor with a long screwdriver in his hand.

“She thought it looked suspicious and called the maintenance person for the building,” she said.

Then she stepped back outside and saw the man pry open a window and step inside, so she called 911. Later, she saw the male leave with a laptop in his hand.

A second witness reported watching the man leave and told troopers there was black tape covering his license plate.

The man who lived in the apartment said the laptop — a Dell Alienware model worth $2,500 — was missing. Burkett asked if anything else was gone and the man said there wasn’t. Later they found out a bicycle had also been stolen.

“(He) stated he knew the person who had broken into his apartment and stated it was Cody Carlson. I asked why he would do this. (He) stated he had just reported Cody to Kendall Ford supervisor. Cody was sleeping on duty and using drugs. Cody was fired from Kendall just prior to the burglary,” Burkett writes.

Burkett said he saw pry-marks on the windowsill and a hand-written note attached to the front door.

“Watch your back,” it read, ending with a derogatory term for a homosexual man.

After talking to everyone, Burkett went to where the troopers who pulled him over had Carlson detained.

“Cody admitted to burglarizing the apartment and stealing the laptop, bicycle, and a small bag of dried mushroom looking substance. Cody stated he did it to get back at Christian for getting him fired. He also stated he placed the handwritten sign on the door because he was mad,” Burkett writes.

Carlson is listed among 2014 graduates from American Charter Academy.

Carlson was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $5,000 bail, charged with theft and burglary. As of Thursday afternoon he was still listed in jail records as an inmate at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility.

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