Wasilla fugitive arrested

April 9, 2006

MARY AMES

Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - A convicted sex offender who refused to give a saliva sample to Robert Rootes, operations manager with Alaska Monitoring Systems, cut his ankle monitor later that night, ditched his SCRAM device, and went on the lam for almost three weeks.

Acting on an anonymous tip, Wasilla police nabbed Kevin Ricker, 41, on a $50,000 felony warrant Sunday afternoon.

Ricker was out on an ankle monitor and SCRAM device pending an appeal of whether or not Superior Court Judge Eric Smith would grant the defendant Nigren credit. Nigren credit allows a defendant's time spent on an ankle monitor to count as time spent in custody for purposes of sentencing.

Ricker told Rootes on March 14 that his saliva sample would test positive for cocaine, according to court records. Later that night, Ricker cut his ankle monitor, an action that sent an alarm to Rootes. Ricker called Rootes about a minute later.

&#8220He called me at 10:47 p.m., just after I had gone to bed,” Rootes said.

&#8220He said he had had enough and he was going to Anchorage for a couple of days to let loose and have some fun.”

Rootes told Ricker to turn himself in, but Ricker refused, saying he would be back in a few days.

&#8220But it didn't sound believable,” Rootes said.

Rootes called Alaska State Troopers less than a minute later, he said. But Ricker dodged the law for the next 20 days.

In May 2003, a 16-year-old Wasilla girl told Alaska State Troopers that Ricker touched her breasts in November 2002, according to a trooper report.

In December 2002, Ricker forced her to have sex with him, telling her he would kill her if she told anyone, the report said.

The girl, who was related to Ricker, told troopers that Ricker told her he had been in prison for murder. The girl told troopers that she thought he had abused her best friend, who was 15, and that Ricker possibly had given the friend cocaine. Ricker had offered the older girl cocaine, but she refused, the report said.

When troopers interviewed the 15-year-old girl, she told them Ricker gave her cocaine and had sex with her as a way of making her pay for the drug in 2002 and 2003.

On June 13, 2003, Ricker was arrested by troopers and charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, third-degree sexual abuse of a minor, Incest and third-degree misconduct involving weapons, according to court records.

According to a previous Frontiersman article, District Court Judge Ethan Windahl denied Ricker's release to his mother, Gloria Maier, in June 2003. At the time, Bob Collins, assistant district attorney, opposed the release because of Ricker's long criminal history in Montana, South Dakota and Washington, which included theft, burglary and driving while intoxicated.

However, court records show Ricker was out of custody in July 2004.

In November 2004, Ricker was charged with driving under the influence, and driving with a canceled, suspended or revoked license.

He pleaded no contest to both charges on Feb. 9, sentenced to 360 days in jail with 340 days suspended and fined $3,000. On Feb. 28, the judgment was amended to add five years probation, records show.

On Dec. 9, 2004, Ricker was charged with fourth-degree assault, but prosecutors dismissed the case on Dec. 16, 2005, when Ricker pleaded no contest to one count each of first, second and third-degree sexual abuse of a minor before Superior Court Judge Eric Smith.

The rest of the charges stemming from Ricker's sexual contact with the teenage girls were dropped, along with another charge of driving with a canceled, suspended or revoked license, records show.

Judge Smith handed down a sentence for Ricker of five years in prison with two years suspended on the same day, records show. By that time, Ricker would have spent two and a half years either in jail, or out on bail.

In May 2002, Ricker was on probation when he was arrested for DUI, refusal to submit to a chemical test and making a false report, charges that also were dismissed at his December 2005 sentencing.

Ricker was arraigned in Palmer District Court on charges of violating his conditions of release and failure to register as a sex offender Thursday afternoon.

He was charged with fourth-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal mischief on March 20, records show.

When Wasilla police and their K-9, Hero, and Custa, the trooper K-9, located Ricker on Fanciful Place in Wasilla, they also found and arrested Lana Stamper, 20. Police charged Stamper with hindering prosecution.

Stamper's court records show her as both petitioner and defendant in four domestic violence restraining orders filed in 2004 and 2005. Wasilla police charged Stamper with hindering prosecution for aiding Ricker, according to the police report.

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.