Reward offered for couple on lam

PALMER — Law enforcement officials are stepping up pressure on two suspects they’ve been hunting for weeks, and a local group is offering up to a $1,000 reward for information leading to their capture.

Detective Sgt. Kelly Turney with the Palmer Police Department said he’s been seeking Angie Minnick, 30, of Anchorage since about Sept. 4 and has had numerous near-misses. Minnick is wanted on a warrant for violating her probation.

Alaska State Troopers are also seeking her boyfriend, Ryan Burkhart, 25, of Palmer. Court records show charges filed against Burkhart Aug. 29 for robbery, vehicle theft, theft by receiving and assault III. Troopers allege he forcibly stole an ATV from a 13-year-old boy near Wasilla-Fishhook Road and Mariah Drive on Aug. 2.

After Burkhart was indicted, troopers obtained an arrest warrant and have been looking for him since.

The pair have been traveling together, Turney said, citing information he’s received. Turney said for awhile last week it got pretty hot for the couple in Palmer, with friends refusing to give them a place to stay. But so far police have been a step or two behind them.

“Their time will come, just like everyone else’s,” Turney said. “Everybody gets away once or twice, but eventually they’ll be caught and they’ll be held responsible for what they’ve done.”

Mat-Su Crime Stoppers is offering up to $1,000 reward for information leading to their capture.

Turney said this isn’t the first time he’s had a run-in with Minnick. In 2006, he arrested her for a series of bad checks passed throughout the Valley and Anchorage. Minnick was eventually sentenced a term of incarceration that recently expired and last month she stopped showing up to her probation hearings.

Now, Turney said he thinks she’s up to her old tricks again. Turney believes her accomplice in the last case, Wendy Remington, aka Contessa Estes, 32, of Palmer, who was also convicted on fraud-related charges, is also involved. Remington was arrested Oct. 9 on an Anchorage warrant for fourth-degree drug misconduct. Records checked Saturday show she remains jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility.

“Luckily this time we’re 10 days behind them, less than two weeks behind their activity,” Turney said. “When we did this in ’06 we were a month, two months behind them.”

Turney said it appears the scheme this time is similar to last, and surprisingly common in the Valley. Minnick, Turney believes, is stealing mail from local mailboxes then printing up fake driver licenses to cash checks.

Turney said some of the activity appears to have been done using what credit card companies call “courtesy checks” — checks mailed out with credit card statements which, when used, are charged to the customer’s credit card account.

“These victims still don’t know they’re victims until I call them,” Turney said. “It’s kind of a shock to the system for some of them. I had one lady who called me today. She checked her account and she was out three grand and she was just beside herself.”

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