Pull-tab parlor robbed

WASILLA — A robbery at a Parks Highway pull-tab parlor has the community wondering if there are connections to another recent hold-up but police are remaining tight-lipped.

According to the Wasilla Police Department, the parlor at 231 E. Parks Highway was held up at gunpoint Nov. 26. The crime was reported just after 7:37 p.m. No one was injured.

Wasilla Police Chief Mike Hughes, citing the danger of police officers tipping their hands too much when suspects are still at large, said he could not offer much information to flesh out the story.

“I know people are certainly interested in the details and sometimes we want to hold onto those details,” he said. “We want to follow up on it and not put too much out into the public eye until we’re sure that we either do or don’t have the people that might be involved in it.”

Community members commenting on the Frontiersman’s Facebook page wondered if the robbery had anything to do with one a couple weeks prior at the Half Rack Liquor Store on Wasilla-Fishhook Road.

Alaska State Troopers are investigating that one. They say it happened around 5:30 p.m. and also involved a gun. They described the suspect as a white male in his early 20s. No one was injured.

Hughes said that his department is working with troopers to figure out if the two are at all related. He said that uncertainty is still more reason to be reticent about releasing information at this stage — he doesn’t want to do anything to hamper the troopers’ investigation.

“I haven’t really coordinated with the troopers to know where there are and what they’re doing,” Hughes said. “Before we’re sure that they’re related offenses I’d shy away from putting too much out.”

At any rate, Hughes said his department’s investigative division is working diligently on the case and, once it’s solved, he’d be able to talk much more freely about what went on.

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