Troopers serve search warrant on Wasilla Police

WASILLA — Wasilla Police Chief Gene Belden confirmed Tuesday that Alaska State Troopers served a search warrant on his department a week ago as part of an ongoing internal investigation.

Although Belden couldn’t say on what or whom the investigation centers, he said it has nothing to do with Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright, and said he doesn’t know why the Alaska Attorney General’s Office said previously it’s investigating a January emergency call involving Rupright.

“That’s so far out in left field it’s not even funny,” Belden said Tuesday regarding reports that a Jan. 8 Report Every Dangerous Driver Immediately, or REDDI, call on Rupright was being investigated by the state attorney general. “A misdemeanor DWI or a violation of reckless driving is not something the Attorney General’s Office would even consider looking into, so that whole thing is entirely false.”

Rupright also confirmed the AST search warrant and said it has nothing to do with him or his office. He added he doubts the Attorney General’s Office is actually investigating his REDDI report as its previously told the Frontiersman.

“No one investigates REDDI reports,” Rupright said while sitting in Belden’s office Tuesday. “You either fine the dangerous driver or you don’t.”

The Frontiersman received an anonymous tip last week about the AST search warrant from a person who works for the city of Wasilla, but could not confirm the report until Belden acknowledged the warrant Tuesday.

“Not many police departments that I know of have ever been served with a search warrant in a criminal investigation,” the April 28 email from “John Doe” states, adding he or she has to be very careful to protect his or her identity because of the sensitive nature of the subject and the fact that only a few people knew about the warrant.

Assistant Attorney General John Novak would not comment on the report except to say his department is still conducting an investigation on the city.

“If you’ve got some information, you’ve got some information, but I can’t give it to you,” Novak said. “As an involved prosecutor, I cannot provide information on a pending investigation.”

Novak had denied a public information request the Frontiersman sent to Alaska State Troopers seeking a copy of the Jan. 8 REDDI report and audio recording involving Rupright. Novak’s April 7 letter to the Frontiersman says his office couldn’t release the information because of an ongoing state investigation.

The REDDI call on Rupright came into question in March when Rupright issued an administrative order a month after the incident that mandates Wasilla police respond to any future REDDI calls that involve city of Wasilla employees.

In the past, WPD officers responded to a REDDI call only when the driver was within city limits or heading into Wasilla. Otherwise, those calls would only involve either Alaska State Troopers or police officers from Palmer or Houston, depending on the location of the reckless vehicle.

With the mayor’s new directive, MATCOM emergency dispatchers who receive a REDDI call from anywhere in the Valley must check a list of 160 Wasilla employees to determine if the vehicle could involve one of them. If so, dispatchers are to alert WPD to the call so that they can respond as well.

Rupright explained to the Frontiersman in March that he crafted the policy to protect the city and its residents when he realized after his Jan. 8 incident that WPD officers weren’t following up on REDDI calls involving city employees.

Although the events of Jan. 8 are still unclear because officials haven’t released the 911 report on that case and Rupright hasn’t provided information on it himself, the REDDI call reportedly was made by an employee at the Mat-Su Animal Shelter after Rupright left the area that day.

Although Rupright said he was found to be sober by an officer sometime after the REDDI call, REDDI reports are for anyone who appears to be operating a vehicle in a dangerous manner, not necessarily intoxicated.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.