Troopers finger prowler in two open Valley cases

WASILLA — A call about a suspicious man in the neighborhood led Alaska State Troopers to an arrest in two open cases, as well as the recovery of a car stolen that night.

Charles Hedgers, 21, of Wasilla, was charged with 18 counts of theft and one count each of trespassing, vehicle theft, weapons misconduct and violating probation.

According to an affidavit Sgt. Tony Wegrzyn with AST’s recently formed Criminal Suppression Unit filed in the case against Hedgers, the call about the suspicious man came in at 2:30 a.m., Saturday. The man had left footprints behind in the fresh snow on Rockside Drive.

“The footprints led through several yards and driveways where entry was attempted and/or made at vehicle doors. While following the footprints, troopers discovered they originated at a vehicle later discovered to have been stolen earlier that night,” Wegrzyn writes.

Troopers brought in a police dog that tracked Hedgers down in the woods. His boots matched the footprints and he was on felony probation for a theft charge conviction from September 2013.

On his way to investigate, Wegrzyn received word from another trooper that a theft in February involved a suspect with the exact same shoeprints. In that case, $20,000 worth of property, including 15 guns — 12 rifles and three handguns — was stolen from a home on Greatland Circle.

Troopers showed up at the house Hedgers had been staying at and talked to his sister. She pointed out his belongings, which included a camouflage backpack, two bows and three arrows that had gone missing in the Greatland burglary.

After receiving a warrant, Wegrzyn searched the bags and tote that belonged to Hedgers and found two guns and two cases belonging to guns stolen in that burglary.

A third handgun came from Hedgers’ sister’s husband, who said that he received the gun as a gift from Hedgers for his birthday. Turns out that one also was stolen, but in a different burglary — a theft from a car on Arabian Lane in Palmer from January.

Troopers then talked to Hedgers, who told them the rest of the guns could be found in an abandoned house in the Pittman Road area. Troopers got another search warrant and found all but two of the remaining guns.

Hedgers was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility without bail. As of Monday evening he was still listed as an inmate of that facility.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270

or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.