Serial thief caught at trailhead

PALMER — It worked while it lasted: breaking into the vehicles of people hiking in Willow and racking up more that $3,000 in charges on their credit cards.

But James Eugene Morgan, 38, returned to that honey pot one too many times, and that’s when Alaska State Troopers pounced. Now he’s sitting in the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility facing 21 felony theft and fraud counts.

According to documents Alaska State Park Ranger Andrew McElvain filed in court, the break-ins were reported “over four weekends from Sept. 8, 2013, through Sept. 29, 2013.” All of the vehicles were parked in the Nancy Lake State Recreation Area.

The break-ins Sept. 22 included three vehicles. A red 2000 Ford Excursion had camping equipment, a down jacket, a pair of sunglasses and a wallet stolen. A credit card from the wallet was used at Fisher’s Fuel and at Three Bears on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

A blue 1985 Ford F-150 had its rear window smashed and tools, a garage door opener, camping equipment, house keys and a Smartphone stolen. A white 1997 Suburban also was entered with a credit card stolen and used at a gas station, a liquor store, a sporting goods store and a tobacco store for a total of $1,471.54.

A clerk at the liquor store gave a remarkably detailed description of the man who used the card, saying he was between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-7, “170 pounds, brownish-reddish hair with a moustache and stubbly beard, approximately 30 years old, ‘dirty or grubby looking’ and driving a small white car.”

There were three more break-ins on Sept. 29. A Honda Pilot had its window broken and a purse with credit cards stolen. They were used at a gas station, Fred Meyer, a business whose name sounds like it might be a candle shop, Wal-Mart and that same tobacco store. Total loss: $1,532.47.

A 1999 Isuzu Trooper had the rear window smashed and a wallet with $150 cash, a sleeping bag and food stolen. A 2014 BMW X-1 had two windows broken and three tote bags, an empty purse and a checkbook stolen.

Wal-Mart had surveillance video of the man, who left in a small white car that looked like a Dodge Neon. The man actually used two registers in his shopping trip, buying tobacco at one. The clerk there checked his ID and recorded his birthday.

“On Oct. 4, Trooper (Lucas) Hegg was able to identify an individual with (that birthday) who matched the descriptions from the various store clerks. That suspect was identified as James Eugene Morgan II,” McElvain wrote.

According to McElvain’s affidavit, state records show that a white 1997 Plymouth Neon is registered to Morgan.

So, on the night of Oct. 5, McElvain, Ranger Damon Hampel and Trooper Hegg knew who they were looking for when they set up to wait for someone to come to the trailhead and break into more vehicles. At 12:30 a.m., Oct. 6 a small sedan drove past. The man inside parked at the trailhead, got out and used a flashlight to peer through car windows. It was Morgan.

“Morgan stated he was looking for his sister. Morgan was then arrested for theft, fraudulent use of an access device and obtaining an access device,” McElvain writes.

Morgan’s bail was set at $10,000 and he was ordered to find someone to watch him before he can get out of jail. As of Monday afternoon he was still listed as an inmate of the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility.

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