Theft suspects had criminal history

March 26, 2006

MARY AMES

Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Police reports, court records and court indictments show a thread of commonality linking three men and two women with crimes in Palmer and Wasilla in the past two weeks.

Devin Donn, 21, Matthew Wodkowski, 19, and Michelle Lund, 19, each were indicted Wednesday by a Palmer Grand Jury on one charge of second-degree theft connected to a March 13 incident at the Wasilla Fred Meyer. In a police report of the incident, Shyanna Mulholland, 17, was with the other three.

Wasilla police arrested the men on March 13 after receiving a report of shoplifters at the store. Officer Kelly Swihart arrived at about 8:20 p.m. and saw Wodkowski struggling with two store employees outside the Fred Meyer building, according to a police report. Donn and the women were in Donn's black Lexus beside them.

Swihart took Wodkowski into custody while officer Jentry Crain stayed with Donn, who denied knowing Wodkowski and said he was just watching the struggle, the report said.

Swihart said in a phone interview March 14 that store employees told him they watched the four load jewelry, shoes, clothing and other merchandise worth about $1,500 into a shopping cart.

Donn, Lund and Mulholland left the store together, according to the police report, then Donn drove the car to the entrance. Wodkowski pushed the cart full of loot out of the store without stopping to pay for it. Donn asked Wodkowski if he had &#8220gotten the stuff,” and Wodkowski said he had. The two store employees then nabbed Wodkowski.

Wodkowski, booked on one charge of second-degree theft with $5,000 bail, had four outstanding warrants totaling $2,000. He had been released on bail earlier this year to the custody of his mother, Dawn Patterson.

Donn was booked at Mat-Su Pretrial Facility on one charge of second-degree theft. The magistrate set bail at $5,000 and ordered a court-approved third-party custodian, Swihart said.

Court records show Donn made bail the next day with no third-party custodian and an arraignment scheduled for March 28, listing his residence as Mile 1 Scott Road in Palmer and his mailing address as 173 South Valley Way in Palmer, the address of Palmer Radiator.

Earlier in the day, Swihart and Crain investigated a theft at the Holiday Station Store near the Parks Highway and Boundary Street, the report said. A customer in the store witnessed two men wearing blue bandannas come into the store, swipe some merchandise and leave in a black Lexus, license plate CMR 132, the report said. The store clerk and the customer said two females waited in the car. The clerk identified one of the men as a regular customer named Devin, the report said.

Wodkowski and Donn wore blue bandannas when they were arrested at Fred Meyer.

After his arrest, Wodkowski admitted to Swihart he was with the other three at the Holiday Station, but said he didn't steal anything, the report said. Wodkowski also said he and the others stole the goods from Fred Meyer, which he needed to barter for cocaine, and he apologized, the report said.

At Wodkowski's March 14 bail hearing, Magistrate David Zwink said Wodkowski's behavior is so controlled by his addiction that he wouldn't release him without a 24-hour monitor, according to the court record. Wodkowski said, &#8220I don't want no part in Devin,” according to the record.

Close to the same time Wodkowski and the Fred Meyer employees tussled, Alaska State Troopers responded to Mile 1 Scott Road for the report of two burglaries, according to a trooper report. At about 8 p.m., Jon Stengrim, 39, told trooper Ben Mank that sometime between noon and 6 p.m., someone forced a door open and stole a $500 television, the report said.

At 8:30 p.m., Charles Donn, 46, reported that sometime between 6 p.m. March 10 and noon March 11, someone stole two handguns and a rifle, valued at about $900, from the cab of his unlocked 1994 Ford F-150 pickup truck parked at his residence, according to the trooper report. Mank didn't return phone calls or e-mails asking for a description of the firearms.

According to Swihart's report, Wodkowski wore shoes stolen from Fred Meyer at the time of his arrest.

The Fred Meyer employees recovered the shoes Wodkowski wore into the store, the report said. Although Wodkowski denied involvement in the Scott Road burglary, Mank matched a shoe print from the forced door to one of the shoes Wodkowski left at Fred Meyer, the report said.

Casey James Donn, 19, Devin's brother, was arrested by troopers and charged with first-degree burglary, second-degree theft and fourth-degree criminal mischief Feb. 25. Alert neighbors in the much-burgled Meadow Brook subdivision saw Donn in a house, chased him as he ran away and held him for the cops, according to a trooper report.

Although a District Court Judge would not approve Casey Donn's parents, Chuck and Dena Donn, as third party custodians on March 1, a week later, Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler granted him release with an ankle monitor. Cutler ordered Casey Donn to house arrest at Mile One Scott Rd., with leave to attend Valley Pathways School and to work at Palmer Radiator.

The state made no objection at the bail hearing, saying Donn appeared to have no criminal history. Although Cutler seemed to have some reservations, she told Richard Payne, assistant district attorney, that the state had to do its own homework.

Court records show Casey Donn was arraigned in Palmer District Court for violating his conditions of release March 22.

Contact Mary Ames at 352-2284 or mary.ames@frontiersman.com.