Talkeetna area burglary haul grows to $100,000

TALKEETNA — Two suspects arrested on Halloween night in connection with the armed robbery of seven trick-or-treaters were driving a truck containing 12 guns, some of which were reported stolen, Alaska State Troopers report. The investigation has led to recovery of other stolen items now valued at $100,000.

Troopers have asked the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to determine whether federal weapons charges should be filed against the suspects.

Wasilla residents Michael Wilson and Aaron Tolen, both 24, were indicted last week by a grand jury on one count each of first-degree hindering prosecution and misconduct involving weapons in the third degree. No one has been charged in connection with the burglaries.

Kendra Butts, 18, and Amber Martin, 20, both of Wasilla, each face one count of attempted first-degree robbery, seven counts of first-degree robbery and eight counts of third-degree assault. Eight children were present at the time of the robbery. Troopers learned that one child did not give up the candy as ordered, leading to the single count of attempted first-degree robbery.

The burglary investigation began after a not-so-daring robbery just before sunset Oct. 31 when a truck driving past a group of costumed children made a U-turn and two women jumped out, court records report. They confronted the kids, one holding a revolver. One shot was fired as the women threatened the kids and took their candy.

Court records contain affidavits about taped jailhouse phone calls made by the male suspects to the females, who were later arrested. The calls indicate Martin and Butts and their boyfriends, Tolen and Wilson, argued at a Talkeetna cabin that night after the women bragged about the robbery. That argument apparently sent the men out of the cabin. They were arrested while waiting for cheeseburgers at a Talkeetna lodge when a robbery victim spotted the license plate of their truck and troopers were called.

As the men went to jail Halloween night the truck they’d been driving was impounded as troopers sought a search warrant.

“The subsequent search of the vehicle uncovered a total of 12 shotguns, rifles and handguns. Some of the weapons have been identified as stolen firearms,” Trooper spokesperson Beth Ipsen said.

The Alaska Bureau of Investigation began working the investigation on Halloween and days later got a break due to the same taped jailhouse phone calls between the men and their girlfriends. Using information from those calls, wildlife troopers by air located the cache of stolen goods on land near about two miles off the Parks Highway near Montana Creek Road in the Talkeetna area.

“Many of the items have been positively linked to burglaries and thefts in the Talkeetna area, as well as to the Halloween night robbery,” Ipsen said.

The items are considered evidence and have not yet been returned to their owners.

Contact John R. Moses at john.moses@frontiersman.com or call 352-2270.