Robberies keep authorities hopping

MAT-SU — A pair of unrelated robberies has landed six people in jail, keeping law enforcement busy on opposite ends of the Valley last weekend.

The first happened Friday at 4:05 a.m. on Moose Meadows Road, north of Wasilla. According to Alaska State Troopers, a 74-year-old homeowner had his hands taped up and money stolen from his wallet. The man gave troopers a description of the vehicle the suspect left in.

Troopers stopped the vehicle in short order and arrested the driver, Trena Carney, 47, and the passenger, Rogers Brown, 47, both of Wasilla. They were charged with robbery and burglary and jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility. Jail records Monday afternoon showed both were still there.

The second robbery of the weekend happened very early Saturday morning — just after midnight — in Palmer. It started as a report of a disturbance at the Forest Apartments near the post office.

Palmer Police Detective Sgt. Kelly Turney said three officers responded — Sgt. Shayne La Croix and officers Jason Crockett and Dwayne Shelton. La Croix, less than a minute away, was first on scene.

“Literally, he was right there when the call came in,” Turney said. “Sgt. La Croix heard some banging around inside and basically someone telling someone to be quiet.”

When they got inside, they found one man bleeding from his nose and mouth, and four others, one of whom was wearing a ski mask and another of whom was wearing a bandana on his face. He said it appeared to be a pre-planned robbery for drugs.

“It was over Oxycodone pills,” Turney said.

Oxycodone is one member of a family of powerful painkillers popular among local drug users. Turney said the man with blood on his face — obviously the target of the robbery — had not been charged with anything. Which means he may have gotten the pills legally.

In any event, four Palmer men wound up being arrested: Hollis Honeycutt II, 24, Dylan Daniel Kelley, 22, Peter Anthony Jorge, 24 and Adam Robert Stroud, 22.

Turney said all but Jorge were names he was familiar with from past cases. Indeed, police had been actively searching for Kelley.

“We had actually been looking for him for a week just on some outstanding warrants,” Turney said.

Those warrants were for failure to appear in court on false information and assault charges.

All four men were jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on charges of robbery, assault, theft, conspiracy and drug misconduct. Honeycutt’s bail was set at $30,000. Everyone else has bail set at $25,000.

Each will need to find a third party to watch over him before he can be released. Jail records Monday afternoon showed all four were still incarcerated.

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