Three bears theft suspect worked there

WASILLA — One of nine people charged in the theft of 38 guns from the Palmer-Wasilla Highway Three Bears store was apparently a store employee.

Documents filed in the case against John Stern don’t say how long he worked there stocking shelves at night but if what trooper Brian Hibbs writes in his three-page affidavit is true, it was apparently long enough of to have figured out where the store kept the spare key to its gun cabinet.

“The video surveillance system at the Outpost Dept. (the gun counter) captured three individuals…. exit from a hiding area near the Outpost Dept. at (10:43 p.m.). The three individuals proceed to take backpacks from a display in front of the gun cabinet, pry open the drawer where the spare key to the gun case is stored, open the display case, empty the handguns into the bags, take handgun ammunition from behind the display case, and then exit through the fire escape at approximately (10:55 p.m.),” Hibbs wrote.

The three people were wearing masks.

The fire escape, Hibbs wrote, is wired to an alarm. But the alarm is only an internal alarm so troopers weren’t notified automatically that it had gone off.

The alarm had actually been tripped earlier in the day, at around 12:15 p.m. Stern was apparently seen in the store at around that time, Hibbs wrote, looking around before buying a lighter and leaving.

“The only employees who should have knowledge of the spare key for the gun cabinets are the supervisors and the Outpost employees,” according to Hibbs’ affidavit. “Three Bears management is very particular of who they allow to work the Outpost Dept.”

Further suspicion quickly started falling on Stern in Hibbs’ report.

Another night stocker told troopers that Stern had told him, “two days prior to the theft that he was planning on stealing guns from Three Bears. (The stocker) further stated that Stern is looking to leave the state very soon.”

Other troopers collected evidence like footprints and a description of vehicles that had been parked on an ATV trail behind the store that night.

Eventually, troopers wound up at Stern’s apartment on South Cobb Street in Palmer where Mitchell Cupp, 19, another person arrested in the case, lives with Stern.

Amber Helmann, 30, of Wasilla, comes into the case after an informant told troopers a gun he bought from her might be one of the stolen guns.

Through that contact, troopers set up another buy. When the informant showed up at the prearranged spot behind the Alaska Club in Wasilla, Hibbs wrote, two men were selling guns to several other people. That would be Helmann and Joseph Price, 24, of Palmer.

Price told troopers he’d been at Helmann’s place when yet another indicted conspirator, Christopher Everly, showed up with a bag full of guns and asked Price to find him some buyers for them so they could split the proceeds.

It’s unclear in the affidavit where Joseph Owens, 18, of Palmer, fits in, but he’s charged with counts identical to Cupp, Stern and Everly, which indicate he was allegedly involved with the actual theft.

Also there, according to Hibbs’ affidavit, was a 16-year-old boy who said he helped load the guns into the bags.

Two people — Laurie Plyler, 24, of Eagle River and Kevin Angel, 29, of Chugiak — are charged with theft by receiving.

When news of the charges broke two weeks ago, Helmann, Stern and Cupp had already been arrested. Everly has also been rounded up. The rest of the named defendants were not listed in jail databases as of Monday afternoon, indicating they were likely still at large.

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