What a haul.
Anchorage Police Department’s new Investigative Support Unit arrested 10 people over a 24-hour period last week.
The arrests started at about 6:45 pm on Thursday with felony warrants on Joe McMasters, 25, and Matthew Irwin, 37. The charges related to theft and vehicle theft.
An hour later things got interesting. Officers stopped a car in the parking lot of the Dimond Mall and found that all the people in it had outstanding warrants.
Two of the occupants were well-known to law enforcement because they had once been the victims of a horrific kidnapping and attempted murder in October of 2016: The Kirlin brothers.
ONCE SHOT, LEFT FOR DEAD
In 2016, Kevin Kirlin, 23, and Keeton Kirlin, 24, (then 22 and 23) had been kidnapped, assaulted, and left for dead on the Palmer side of Hatcher Pass, where a passerby discovered them severely beaten and shot multiple times. They were wearing only underwear and t-shirts.
While recovering in the hospital, they told police that they had gone to an apartment in the Mountain View neighborhood in Anchorage to look for a missing pinky ring that one of them had lost while purchasing meth at the apartment a week earlier. They got into a fight with two men at the apartment over a stolen wallet.
Kevin and Keeton were pistol whipped by three men, bound, and dumped out of that Thompson Avenue apartment window into their own 2005 Subaru. Their armed assailants drove them to Hatcher Pass, where the brothers were shot and left along the side of the road. They tried to flag down drivers, they said, but four drivers passed them without even stopping. Finally, a driver discovered them at 4:30 am and called 911.
The arrest and trial of their kidnappers were widely reported in 2017 by the news media.
[Read: Brothers kidnapped, shot, left for dead]
SLOW LEARNERS
Between October 2016 and Thursday night, evidently the Kirlin brothers were recovered from their gunshot wounds and were back in business and getting into trouble. By now they each had a long rap sheet, but they were like a two-man “Allstate Mayhem guy,” stealing hub caps and anything else that wasn’t nailed down.
When officers stopped their car in the Dimond Mall parking lot, they had outstanding warrants. Kevin was wanted on charges related to Robbery 1 and Assault 3. He had been out on bail for Class C felonies, including, “causing of fear of injury with a weapon,” and Class A felony, armed robbery. And he failed to show up in court.
Keeton, also known as Keeton Mutch, pled guilty in 2016 to drug charges, and at the time of his arrest last week had a misdemeanor warrant for failing to stop at the direction of an officer.
Others in their vehicle on Wednesday were also wanted by the law: Corrina Steinman, 27, had a felony warrant for a probation violation and drug charges. Cody Mitchell, 29, was on parole for Theft 2, and was arrested for a parole violation. Roseanna Baehm, 24, gave officers a fake name, pretending to be her sister. When they discovered she was lying, they also found she had a felony warrant for her arrest from a 2015 drug case.
Police found drug paraphernalia in the car and the vehicle was impounded. All occupants went to jail. It’s unknown how many of them have been released.
ANOTHER KIRLIN
But then another Kirlin was arrested that night.
At 9:30 pm, officers stopped a car at a gas station on West Dimond Blvd. Christopher Kirlin, 31, who is a brother of the Kirlins who were arrested earlier in the evening.
Police said he was arrested on a felony warrant for violating parole in regard to drugs and forgery. He was listed as a “red flag” “assaultive” offender and has a history of felony assault.
In fact, while officers were arresting him, he tried to consume some drugs that appeared to officers to be opioids.
He was also charged for misconduct involving a controlled substance. The passenger of the car, Lindy Bowie, 28, had a misdemeanor warrant for her arrest.
HEROIN, METH AND PIPE BOMB
On Thursday afternoon, officers learned that a person they’d been searching for, Patricia England, 49, was at Providence Hospital. They had been looking for her and Mona Galliher since last November as part of a long investigation into a heroin and meth ring.
England had a warrant for six counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance, weapons violations, theft, and promoting contraband. The England and Galliher cases are related to a major heroin and meth drug ring in the Anchorage area.
That case began in December, 2015 with heroin purchases by undercover detectives, leading to a year and a half investigation, multiple searches, and the discovery of heroin, marijuana, digital scales, repackaging materials, $200,000 in cash, hundreds of prescription pills that includes oxycodone, nearly a dozen firearms, and a pipe bomb.
The Investigative Support Unit was created last October in an effort to assist detectives and patrol officers. The unit is not tied to calls for service, but conducts long-term investigations. Since its creation, the team has arrested more than 60 for various charges.
Too bad Juneau didn’t have a unit like that. They have had several “years” of kindness. Maddening how they respond about drug dealing.
Heck. I was hoping that upon the New Year Juneau had successfully served its Year of Kindness sentence and therefore we could stop wringing our hands over global warming, forthrightly acknowledge that it was Hillary and the mainstream Democrats rather than President Trump who swindled Bernie, recast the $13 million brass whale into a statue of President Reagan, and allow the AJ Mine to reopen. Too much to ask?
Grateful to APD and this unit . Job well done . Thank you
Too bad the damn judges keep letting them go.
This is good news! I love the “Two Man Allstate-Mayhem guy” label. Great writing! That is hilarious!
Amen to Kayak’s comment. However, these arrests only show cops are doing their job–a great thing. I challenge Suzanne to track the disposition of all ten accused and report back with the consequences each is dealt by the courts. I will reserve my rejoicing until I see those results.
Great idea Wayne. I will reserve my rejoicing over s job well done because until they are convicted the job is not done. Now let’s see what the judges do!!!
And more seriously, these are seriously bad people and Anchorage is fortunate to have them apprehended. When serving jury and grand jury duty it frequently and obviously occurs to everyone that even the witnesses, let alone the defendants, are very often people who have no regard for human life.
That ISU unit is really doing great. Keep up the good work! Hope the judicial branch does their job now.
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