Troopers say brothers stole thousands of gallons of fuel

PALMER — Two brothers are facing criminal charges for allegedly stealing from the state’s Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Alaska State Troopers report.

According to troopers, on June 2, 2008, Michael Barickman, 55, of Palmer, was seen filling a 100-gallon diesel tank in the bed of his pickup at a DOT pump in Palmer.

Troopers allege that a subsequent investigation led them to believe Barickman had stolen 10,500 gallons of fuel over seven years for an estimated loss to the department of $17,500. Troopers further allege a search of Barickman’s property turned up $18,500 worth of stolen DOT property.

During the investigation, troopers say they found evidence Barickman’s brother, William Barickman, 51, had stolen $720 in DOT property then covered up the evidence.

According to a trooper press statement, a grand jury on Friday charged the elder Barickman with eight counts of second-degree theft and one count of first-degree theft. The same jury charged the younger Barickman with one count each of second-degree theft and tampering with physical evidence.

The case has apparently been brewing for some time.

On Dec. 1, William Barickman filed a suit in Palmer Superior Court asking for $100,000 in damages and claiming he was wrongfully fired. The suit alleges that a “witch hunt” began after the Michael Barickman investigation commenced, eventually growing to ensnare his brother with false accusations.

The complaint alleges that William Barickman took only scrap metal that was otherwise bound for the landfill. The metal consisted of signposts, made from a material known as Telespar, designed to snap when hit by a car rather than bend.

“For safety reasons, DOTPF does not re-use Telespar sign posts that have been hit, but instead disposes of them as scrap,” states the complaint written by Barickman’s attorney, Kenneth Albertson.

Albertson writes that it was common practice for DOT to allow employees and even the general public to take scrap home, thus saving the cost of dumping it. Barickman used some of the steel tubes as shelving supports in his house and to hold up a fuel tank in his yard.

“When DOTPF launched its ‘witch hunt investigation’ after its termination of Barickman’s brother, Barickman’s supervisor … requested the DOTPF employees under his supervision to get rid of any scrap they had since they might otherwise speciously be accused of wrongdoing,” Albertson wrote.

He writes that upon hearing that his client took the scrap to a DOT dump in his own trailer and there unloaded it with a DOT loader, as was standard practice.

“Thus the pieces of Telespar scrap ended up in the same dump that they would have be in if they had never been salvaged,” Albertson wrote.

Albertson throws water on DOT claims that Barickman used a state-owned loader to load the metal into the trailer at his home, saying pictures of a loader in use on Barickman’s property are of a loader Barickman purchased himself, for which he has a bill of sale and canceled check.

In a response to the lawsuit, the state denies Barickman’s claims but offers little in the way of rebuttal argument. One point fleshed out in detail relates to why Barickman got rid of the scrap metal.

“DOT&PF states that Mr. Barickman indicated that he disposed of fuel tank stands and shelving from his property because he “panicked,” the response, penned by Assistant Attorney General Brenda Page states.

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