Use of gun turns burglary to robbery

MEADOW LAKES — When a homeowner he was stealing from confronted him, the burglar allegedly pointed the stolen gun at its owner to get him to back off.

And that’s how a person goes from being charged with burglary to also being charged with the much more serious crime of robbery.

According to documents Alaska State Trooper Andrew Gault filed in the case against Matthew R. Jones, 26, the burglary was first reported at 4:04 p.m., Sunday on Wintergreen Drive, a street not far from the Parks Highway near its intersection with Stanley Road.

A homeowner said he heard noises that sounded like someone was inside his home.

“He stated he chased the male. He stated the male took a firearm that he (the homeowner) owned and pointed it at him. He stated the male advised him to stop. He stated this placed him in fear that he was going to be shot,” Gault wrote.

In addition to Gault, Trooper Darin Jetton and a Wasilla police officer responded to the burglary.

The WPD officer and Jetton followed a footpath with “recent ground disturbance” to a home on nearby Smalley Circle.

They talked to a woman at the home who said she needed to find the homeowner before she could give them permission to go inside. She ducked inside, but came right back out, saying that Jones was downstairs “inside a wall in the utility room” wearing a raincoat.

“She stated Matt had burglarized their house by entering a screen door one to two weeks prior. She stated Matt had a history of thefts and she advised him not to come back to the residence. She stated he was there unlawfully. She stated he advised her he had done a bad thing and not to let law enforcement into the residence,” Gault writes.

Of course, the woman let troopers in and they found and arrested Jones, who showed them where he’d stashed the gun and some clothes he’d also taken from the home on Wintergreen.

“Jones stated he went to the residence (on Wintergreen) and entered to find a place to sleep. He stated he also went into the shed and took items. He stated he also took a bicycle,” Gault wrote.

Jones was arrested for robbery, theft, burglary, assault and evidence tampering. The robbery charge is the only charge that is a class A felony, the second most serious class of crime in state law. As of Monday afternoon, Jones was still listed as an inmate at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility. The rest of his criminal history, at least in Alaska court records, includes misdemeanor offenses except for one felony drug case prosecutors eventually dismissed in 2007.

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