Wasilla police seek third suspect in connection with pawn shop burglary

WASILLA - Police are hunting for a third suspect charged in connection with a Dec. 14 burglary in which nearly $125,000 worth of guns and jewelry was stolen from the Alaska Frontier North pawn shop.

After a lengthy investigation, a warrant was issued last Friday for the arrest of Damien Prescott, 19, who was charged with second-degree burglary and first-degree theft.

Wasilla police say Prescott, along with at least two other suspects, broke into the Wasilla pawn shop through holes cut and kicked in walls between it and a neighboring business.

The burglars, police said, made off with approximately 48 firearms and $100,157 worth of jewelry after apparently cutting through two separate walls, kicking through drywall directly behind a display case and crouching down in order to avoid detection from motion detectors.

According to Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon, a fourth unnamed suspect in the burglary is being sought, although an arrest warrant for that individual has not yet been issued.

Prescott is aware the police are attempting to find him, Fannon said Wednesday, but Prescott had not yet been arrested.

The complaint against Prescott stems from a statement made by a 16-year-old boy, identified in a Wasilla Police charging document as B.B., who was arrested Dec. 24 for allegedly taking part in the burglary.

B.B. named Prescott and Richard Pocock, 31, as the other participants in the thefts from the shop. B.B. told Wasilla investigator Jean Achee the guns and jewelry were divided between the three suspects.

According to the police report, several witnesses told police Prescott sold them what they believed were stolen goods.

Jason Menerey told police he bought a .22-caliber rifle and received jewelry from Prescott. Later, Prescott allegedly told Menerey he had broken into the pawn shop along with another defendant and grabbed the guns.

Another witness, Melissa Mattson, told police she purchased three rings from Prescott for $20. Both the rings and the .22-caliber rifle were returned to John Hecht, owner of Alaska Frontier North, and identified as some of the property stolen from his store in December.

Witness Collett Ladson told police that Prescott and others who are believed to have participated in the pawn shop burglary arrived at her home early Dec. 24, with a duffel bag full of jewelry and guns. Ladson told police she overheard Prescott and the other suspects talking about the firearms being stolen.

Pocock was arrested Dec. 23, a day after he allegedly traded a cloth bag containing eight handguns and a shotgun six of which were allegedly stolen from the Alaska Frontier North Pawn Shop on Dec. 14 for a half-pound of marijuana.

Pocock is being held at Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility. A March 20 trial date has been set in Palmer Superior Court.

Sixteen-year-old B.B. was arrested Dec. 24 after he allegedly fled into the woods behind Wasilla High School just as he was about to be taken into custody by law enforcement agents.

The teen-ager allegedly fled with the half-pound of marijuana which had been traded for the guns the previous day. Fannon said the police and agents were about to call off their lengthy search when the boy gave himself up after becoming hypothermic in subzero temperatures.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Alaska State Troopers, Mat-Su Drug Team, and Palmer Police Department helped Wasilla police investigate the theft of the guns and jewelry from the pawn shop and another burglary from Gold Rush Jewelers in Wasilla.

The jewelry store was burglarized several days before the pawn shop burglary.