Whacked in Wasilla: Three catch-release crooks nabbed in action

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Troopers were called to a residence on Schrock Road in Wasilla on Saturday at about 12:18 pm, where a man had observed a burglary in progress at a friend’s house. The man tried to detain three suspects by holding them at gun point until officers were on scene, but they ran into the woods.

When Troopers arrived, they discovered two vehicles loaded with thousands of dollars worth of items. Troopers used a canine officer team to search the area. The suspects were located and positively identified by the good Samaritan.

Arrested were three who had been previously released by the courts through the court’s pretrial enforcement risk assessment tool, which gave all three of them a get-out-of-jail-free card while they awaited their next court dates on unrelated charges:

Felisha Thomas, 31, Wasilla, who has a long history of drug abuse and related issues, with multiple arrests, including four from this year that were not yet closed cases. In October, she was arrested at Walmart in Wasilla for shoplifting, and had at least two prior theft convictions in the five years prior.

Ethan Kerr, 26, Wasilla, who had been arrested last year for possession of a scheduled drug (opioid), has had other brushes with the law. In November, he was arrested by Troopers on the Parks Highway on outstanding warrants. In 2012, he pled guilty to assault after seriously injuring a former roommate in the village of Lower Kalskag. At the time, he was on probation and was prohibited from contacting that roommate.

Joshua Johnston, 28, Wasilla, who had been released on May 5 to await trial on a Class C felony theft charge. He has been arrested for serious crimes before, including a 2013 charge of burglary in Homer, where a warrant was issued for his arrest after he was said to have taken a safe from the Salvation Army, which contained $1,900. Homer Police found the safe at Johnston’s home in Anchor Point home, but the money was gone.

Johnston was on an ankle monitor when Troopers apprehended him on Sunday.

All were arraigned at the Palmer Courthouse and sent to the Mat-Su Pretrial facility on no bail.

[Read: Alaska State Troopers original report]

6 COMMENTS

  1. It’s political campaign time and we know who voted for SB 91 and the flawed pre—trial assessment.

    • Please give us a list so we can share it. I don’t know. I wasn’t paying attention at that time.

  2. This is becoming one of those things where the people who are hired to deal with this won’t deal with it and won’t let us deal with it. Imagine if firemen refused to put out the fire on your property but refused to let you try to put it out?

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