RV chase leads to long jail sentence

PALMER — A man once indicted on more than 50 counts of fraud, writing bad checks, and first-degree theft in three cases in Anchorage and Palmer was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Monday afternoon in the Palmer Court.

Eligah Brokenspirit Christian, 66, caused a media stir in April when he fled a $100,000 arrest warrant by leading Alaska State Troopers and Wasilla police in a motor home chase that damaged several patrol vehicles. Videos of the chase down a stretch of the Parks Highway circulated widely on Facebook and as far afield as the (London) Daily Mail at the time of Christian’s apprehension.

He appeared at Monday’s sentencing telephonically from Goose Creek prison, and said parts of the hearing were inaudible while authorities changed an oxygen tank Christian uses. The courtroom was completely empty, save for court officials and a Frontiersman reporter.

An Anchorage judge issued the arrest warrant in a case out of the Anchorage court for 37 counts.

Christian pleaded guilty in July to a single count of scheme to defraud in Anchorage court, and a superior court judge sentenced him to six years. Christian also had two standing Palmer court cases: one involving 17 counts of scheme to defraud and writing bad checks and another involving three counts — failure to stop at the direction of an officer, reckless driving, and third-degree criminal mischief — for his flight from justice. Superior court judge Eric Smith added nine additional years Monday afternoon, bringing the total time for both cases to 15 years.

Christian pleaded guilty Aug. 7 to one count of scheme to defraud and the failure to stop charge in the Palmer Court.

Christian argued his sentence should be lower because other people — he repeatedly named people who have not been charged — had coerced him into signing bad checks by first threatening to tow his trailer, and then tell police about his misdeeds. He argued the others had isolated him from other social contact, convinced him to stop taking his medication, and told him to sign more than $30,000 in bad checks to local businesses and himself.

They “took my truck and my trailer and put it in their name and told me they were doing that to hide me from the law,” he said.

Christian said he’d been convinced to stop taking medication at Mat-Su Health Services.

“They told me to stop going to all providers, medical and everything,” he said. “They didn’t want me in public because they knew people were looking for me.”

Then, later, he said he had gone to Wal-Mart to obtain medications. He also claimed both the Anchorage and Palmer cases were part of the same crime spree.

Christian’s claims of a conspiracy weren’t true, said prosecutor Kerry Corliss.

“There are no co-conspirators from the state’s perspective, judge,” she said. “I don’t oppose it being attached to the PSR, but I do object to it being added to the present offense because the state doesn’t believe much of that is true. There are no co-conspirators charged in Anchorage.”

Corliss read portions of the confidential pre-sentencing report detailing a history of past crimes in California and Utah.

“Sir, on page 11 of the presentence report, it’s reported that you were convicted of the crimes of arson, theft, vandalism, receiving stolen property, burglary, and grand theft in the state of California,” Corliss said. “Is that correct?”

Christian testified he could only remember the California arson charge, but didn’t dispute the earlier convictions.

Christian was also convicted of writing a bad check and filing a false insurance claim in Utah, Corliss said.

Public defender Bruce Brown said Christian — who testified that he suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder — was simply another victim in the case.

“He’s on disability for mental health issues,” Brown said. “In many ways he’s a victim of these other individuals, who were preying on him, getting him to do the dirty work, getting him to go write checks, and then they would reap the benefit of it. So his (Christian’s) role is the least serious of the conduct.”

Christian said he was adopted into an Oklahoma family after being born in Nome and given the name Todd Lowell Meadows. Alaska court records show that name listed as an alias in a 2005 theft conviction.

Fear triggered his flight from justice, not a desire to avoid arrest, Christian said

“I was trying to save myself from being killed,” he said. “Even when I cooperated with them, when the chase stopped, they pulled me out of the RV, I was on the ground, they cuffed me, then they started kicking me. They injured my neck. They maced me while I was cuffed. They tased me while I was cuffed.”

Christian also rejected the picture painted by Corliss of a recurring offender in multiple states.

“I feel bad about all the vehicle damage, but — I don’t know — you can only say ‘sorry,’ so many times,” he said.

Presiding superior court judge Eric Smith ultimately found no mitigating factors, and said he was willing to hand out a minimum sentence only because of the Anchorage case. He also sentenced the cases consecutively.

“I think I have to sentence them consecutively, and quite frankly, given what happened and how it happened, it’s appropriate to do so,” he said.

Christian’s account of coercion didn’t seem to mesh up with his portrayal in the presentence report, Smith said.

“The eluding occurred when the troopers showed up to arrest Mr. Christian, and I recognize that Mr. Christian has his perception of what was going on, but what I read in the presentence report is frankly rather different from that depiction,” he said. “The fact of the matter is it was a high-speed and pretty scary chase with a lot of damage.”

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.