Wasilla man jailed after stealing car with 2 kids inside

WASILLA — A man was taken into custody after allegedly stealing a vehicle with two children in it, abandoning that vehicle and then returning to the same gas station to steal a second vehicle Wednesday.

At around 8:26 p.m., Oct. 24, Alaska State Troopers were called to the Tesoro gas station at the intersection of Seward Meridian Parkway and Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

Trooper Brandon Viator writes in an affidavit filed in the case against Ronnie Chad Coker, 25, of Wasilla, about his conversation with the owner of the second stolen vehicle, a 2006 Chevy Silverado.

The pickup’s owner told Viator that the pickup was stolen “while he was in the store buying chocolate milk. He didn’t see the individual who stole his truck.”

But a woman whose car was allegedly Coker’s first target told him her two kids did get a look at him about 30 minutes earlier.

“A male in his 20s got into her 1991 Ford Taurus and started driving away from the station while her two children (ages 12 and 14) were in the car and she was in the store,” Viator wrote.

The woman told Viator she ran outside and started yelling at the man, who hopped out of the Taurus and started running down the road. The woman’s 14-year-old daughter described the thief as wearing a green hoodie with the hood up, brown saggy pants, short brown hair and a brown goatee.

A half hour after troopers responded to the gas station, dispatchers put that description out over the radio and Wasilla police radioed in to say they’d just had a run-in with a guy matching that description in the parking lot of Valley Cinema.

“I responded to Valley Cinema and contacted Ronnie (Chad Coker),” Viator wrote. “Coker was being checked by (emergency medics) because he was found lying next to a vehicle in the parking lot.”

Viator said he as fidgety and seemed intoxicated.

He snapped a digital photo of Coker and medics took him to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center for evaluation. Viator later showed the photo to the 14-year-old girl who said that was the guy who tried to take her mom’s car.

At 10:17 p.m., AST Sgt. Tony Wegrzyn found the missing Silverado in a gravel pit off of Fireweed Road. Which, Viator notes, is “within walking distance from the Valley Cinema.”

The stereo was damaged and the vehicle owner’s smartphone was missing.

Just after 11 p.m., VIator talked to Coker at the hospital.

“Coker stated that he took mushrooms earlier and that troopers were chasing him. Coker appeared to be delusional and was crying and not able to answer simple questions. When asked if he drove a truck earlier he was unable to provide an answer,” Viator wrote.

Coker was arrested for vehicle theft and child endangerment.

He was jailed on $5,000 bail at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270. Contact managing editor Heather A. Resz at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or 352-2268