Troopers seek liquor store robbery accomplice

MEADOW LAKES -- Alaska State Troopers are searching for a young accomplice in the Tuesday night robbery of a local strip club, a teen-ager who attacked two men with pepper spray as he and his 16-year-old friend fled with a stolen bottle of vodka.

The 16-year-old boy was arrested and taken to Mat-Su Youth Facility in Palmer. He was charged with one count of second-degree robbery and two counts of fourth-degree assault.

The accomplice, troopers said, got away.

An off-duty Wasilla Police officer, who was pumping gas at the Tesoro station across the street at around 11:30 p.m., said she saw a ruckus going on outside the Borealis Beach Club.

A man was chasing a teen-ager in his pickup truck, Officer Kristi Witherspoon said.

"I paid for my gas and drove up Pittman [Road]. I asked some people there if everything was OK, and they said someone just robbed the club," Witherspoon said.

According to troopers, the 16-year-old entered the liquor store section of the Borealis Beach Club and walked around the room. The youth then grabbed a $5.50 bottle of vodka from the shelf, waved at the clerk and fled from the building, said trooper spokesman Greg Wilkinson.

The clerk, a bouncer, the bartender and another man began to chase the boy from the store, Witherspoon said.

When the men followed the teen-ager around the corner of the building, his friend was waiting and sprayed the pursuing men -- hitting the bartender and the bouncer with the pepper spray.

The accomplice fled, continuing to spray the men as he ran, Witherspoon said.

The pursuers managed to catch and subdue the 16-year-old in a ditch, Witherspoon said. The off-duty officer handcuffed the struggling youth with a pair of plastic "flex-cuffs."

Troopers were called and they placed the teen-ager into custody. Witherspoon said that while investigators questioned the boy, he called his missing partner by the name of "Dog."

The investigation of the incident is continuing.