Wasilla man arrested on rape charges

WASILLA — A Valley man is facing sexual assault charges after troopers say he raped a 19-year-old woman.

Thomas Phillips Jr., 53, of Wasilla, was charged with first- and third-degree sexual assault.

The type of charges used against him generally refers to sexual abuse of an incapacitated or unaware victim.

Troopers received word of the assault at 10:31 a.m. Sunday. The woman reported Phillips had assaulted her at a home in Wasilla

Phillips was arrested at 6 p.m. that day and jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility without bail. Jail records as of Monday afternoon showed he was still there.

The incident is the second rape of an adult victim that has led to an arrest this year. The first was on Jan. 23 when police arrested Zebulon Whisler for allegedly raping a 21-year-old woman.

Whisler was eventually indicted on three counts of first-degree and two counts of second-degree sexual assault. Jail records late Monday showed he was still in the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility.

Costly motel room

PALMER — Police say they arrested a Talkeetna man, accused of breaking into a hotel room and staying the night.

Delano Darold Wier II, 36, of Talkeetna, was charged with theft of services and trespassing. He was arrested Friday.

A Palmer Police Department press statement alleges he broke into a room at the North 49th Star Inn and used it without paying. He was jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $250 bail.

Jail records Monday morning showed he was still there.

Father and son

arrested

WASILLA — Alaska State Troopers say a man who threatened to shoot them was arrested late Sunday evening.

Troopers got a call to investigate a 1996 Dodge van stuck in the ditch on Fairview Loop near Davis Road.

Before they arrived, troopers were told the van had left the scene with a flat front tire. They were able to find the van at a home on Fairview Loop.

There, troopers talked to Robert J. Sweeney, 43, of Wasilla who, according to a trooper press statement, was, “intoxicated and emotional.”

Sweeney told officers his son, Steven Richie, 21, of Wasilla, had been the driver. When troopers tried to talk to Richie, Sweeney lost it, according to the press release.

He, “became assaultive and threatened to shoot Troopers while reaching behind his back as if he was armed,” the press release states.

Both Sweeney and Richie were jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $8,500 and $4,500 bail respectively. Prison records Monday morning showed both were still there.

According to court records, Sweeney is charged with four assault counts and Richie with drunken driving. Both men also had outstanding warrants out of Anchorage, troopers say.

—Compiled by

Andrew Wellner