Woman charged with aiding escapee

PALMER — Having taken apart one fence and scaled another, cutting his hand and abdomen in the process, Kent Matte was able to buy himself about six hours of freedom Wednesday.

Matte’s run from the law, which began at 8:05 a.m. at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility in downtown Palmer, took him as far as Meadow Lakes, where Alaska State Troopers arrested him at around 2:30 p.m. as he fled from a home near Stanley Road and Parks Highway close to Church on the Rock.

Wednesday morning and afternoon saw every borough school lock its exterior doors as a precaution to keep staff and students safe. At the same time, every available law enforcement officer — local city cops, but also troopers, the Department of Corrections and the U.S. Marshal’s service — helped in the search for Matte, 44.

“There was a very main focus of trying to get him back into custody,” trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said of trooper activity on Wednesday.

“Every hand is on deck helping out AST with this,” Palmer’s Emergency Services Director Jon Owen said as the search was still ongoing.

Sam Edwards, a deputy commissioner for the state’s Department of Corrections, said at a press conference held while Matte was still at large, that Matte escaped the facility’s recreation yard. He and two other prisoners — one of whom was the first to report Matte’s escape — had been taken there at around 7:30 that morning. That yard has two fences around it, one of which is 12 feet tall and topped with razor ribbon, the other of which is often referred to as a cage — meaning it has four chain-link walls and a roof.

“He was able to defeat one of our fences,” Edwards said, elaborating to say that Matte apparently unwove the links of the cage — there was no alarm on the fence and the camera watching the yard is only monitored sporadically — then scaled a second fence, using his winter coat to at least partially shield himself from the razor ribbon atop it.

The escape was a first for Mat-Su Pre-Trial, a facility used to house offenders for short sentences or as a place to keep them between court proceedings. It’s a crowded place.

“It’s at capacity most of the time,” Edwards said. “It’s more the exception that it’s under capacity.”

Though Matte wasn’t entirely successful in avoiding injury, according to DOC’s Deputy Commissioner for Division of Institutions Garland Armstrong. Upon his re-arrest he was treated for cuts to his hand and abdomen. Armstrong said that Matte was booked at Mat-Su Pre-Trial, but immediately driven to Anchorage, where he is currently being housed.

The Anchorage Correctional Complex, Armstrong said, has a segregation unit — what might more commonly be known as solitary confinement. Mat-Su Pre-Trial has cells that can be used for solitary confinement but doesn’t have a dedicated unit for it.

“Obviously, a better place for him at the particular moment is the Anchorage jail,” Armstrong said.

Matte’s most recent trek through the legal system began on Oct. 13, 2010. Troopers say he was on probation at the time and that at around 1 a.m., trooper Richard Chambers spotted him heading southbound on Johnson Road in a Chevy Cobalt with only one working headlight. Chambers turned his patrol car around and tried to pull him over, but Matte took a right turn, stopped the car, got out and ran into the woods.

Chambers said the Cobalt was still running when he checked to make sure Matte hadn’t left anyone behind. The Cobalt was empty, but Matte left his wallet behind, making Chambers’ tracking job easier. Nine hours later, having rounded up a group of troopers and probations officers, Chambers went to Matte’s apartment on Tweed Court, less than a mile from where he was re-arrested Wednesday.

Inside the apartment, troopers talked to Kosha L. Jacob, who initially told them Matte wasn’t there, but later told them he was in the back room. They found Matte hiding in a closet under a mattress and some clothes. In the apartment they found cocaine, syringes and spoons.

“Matte confirmed that he had been injecting cocaine,” Chambers wrote.

Initially, Matte was just charged with just the cocaine possession and eluding arrest. But that very same day — as Matte was being arrested, in fact — troopers received a report of a burglary on South Hidden View Road. The victim in that burglary had a sophisticated security system that had caught Matte on camera pulling up to his house in that same Chevy Cobalt. Chambers wrote that Matte could be seen on the video trying several doors before finally forcing open a garage door. Matte allegedly stole a $970 shotgun and several other items.

“Matte then returned to the garage and noticed the security monitor, which he then disabled by removing the power to the monitor and throwing it to the ground,” Chambers wrote.

Chambers estimated damage to the home at $1,351.36 and the value of items stolen at $8,000. He added theft and burglary to the list of charges Matte faced.

After his arrest Wednesday Matte was hit with yet another charge for escaping.

And, just as he did in October, Matte had apparently involved Jacob in his schemes. Troopers say she assisted Matte when he escaped from Mat-Su Pre-Trial and are charging her as an accomplice and with hindering prosecution. She is being held at Mat-Su Pre-Trial on $5,000 bail.

Armstrong said that in the wake of Matte’s escape, state prisons are being hyper vigilant to ward off potential copycats. And DOC is currently conducting an internal review to see what changes it needs to make to its facility and its procedures to prevent a recurrence of Matte’s run.

“One can imagine after an event such as this we look at all aspects of our operation,” Anderson said. “If we determine upon this review that changes need to be made we will make those changes.”

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