Crime & Courts

A jury trial tentatively set for December 3rd for a former police officer accused of firing on his former colleagues.

Troy Wilson’s attorney entered a plea of ‘not guilty’ on his behalf during an arraignment on Monday afternoon.

The 45-year old former police lieutenant did not appear in Juneau Superior Court on Monday. Instead, he participated in the hearing by telephone from an undisclosed location in Anchorage. He did not say anything besides answering routine questions posed to him by the judge or his attorney.

The background audio seemed to indicate that Wilson was speaking from a common room at a holding facility with some of the room’s activity sounding very noisy or occasionally disruptive.

Wilson was indicted by a grand jury on Friday on six counts of attempted murder, six counts of misconduct involving weapons in the second degree, six counts of assault, two counts of criminal mischief, and two counts of misdemeanor misconduct involving weapons in the fourth degree.

Wilson was arrested after an alleged stand-off and shooting with officers at his home on Black Wolf Way on April 7th. No one was hurt after an estimated 75 shots were fired, but at least one structure and a police car were allegedly hit.

Wilson remains held pending posting of a million dollars bail. A condition of his potential release was changed to allow contact with his wife. She was named as a potential victim in the earlier criminal information by prosecutors, but she not named as a victim in the more-recent indictment.

A Juneau man awaiting sentencing on a charge stemming from getting caught growing marijuana is facing new charges after another arrest on Friday.

Members of Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs, a southeast interagency task force, say they got a tip that Scott W. Eberhardt, 28, was to pick up a package at a post office. The package was intercepted and allegedly contained multiple tablets of Roxicodone concealed inside.

They served a search warrant at Eberhardt’s new residence on Jennifer Drive and allegedly found a marijuana grow operation with 61 plants.

Eberhardt was charged with second degree misconduct involving a controlled substance and three counts of fourth degree misconduct involving a controlled substance. He was taken to Lemon Creek Correctional Center to await arraignment.

His next court hearing is Tuesday afternoon.

Eberhardt is awaiting sentencing on earlier charge for growing as many as 181 marijuana plants at a North Douglas highway residence. That hearing is scheduled for May 10th.

A former Juneau police officer has been indicted by a grand jury for the alleged shooting and standoff that occurred at his Montana Creek area home earlier this month.

Troy Wilson, 45, faces six counts of attempted first degree murder. That’s for allegedly firing on specific officers during the evening of April 7th.

Wilson is also being charged with six counts of felony misconduct involving weapons for allegedly firing his weapons at other homes or structures in the neighborhood, six counts of third degree assault for placing specific officers in fear of serious injury, two counts of felony criminal mischief for damaging a police car and the home of a neighbor, and two counts of misdemeanor fourth degree misconduct involving weapons for allegedly being under the influence and firing across a roadway.

That’s 22 charges total.

A preliminary hearing based on a fifteen-count criminal information that was filed by prosecutors earlier this month was scheduled for Juneau District Court on Friday afternoon. But the indictment – with seven additional charges — now sends the case to Superior Court.

During grand jury proceedings that were described as going all morning and part of the afternoon on Friday, jurors reviewed evidence from two search warrants and heard from at least fifteen witnesses. Based on information from the bill of indictment, most of the witnesses were police officers that were previously identified as being on the scene and said they were fired upon that night.

Wilson started with the Juneau Police Department in September 1994 and rose to the rank of Lieutenant before he left the department in December 2011. Among his many duties and responsibilities, Wilson served as commander and instructor of SWAT. After his departure from JPD, he was recently working as juvenile probation officer for the state.

The Motor City Madman’s hunting career in Alaska may have just stalled.

Ted Nugent is being charged with violating the federal Lacey Act for a black bear hunt in Southeast three years ago.

According to court documents filed Friday, Nugent was in the middle of a hunt on Sukkwan Island while filming for his show “Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild.” He was bow hunting near several registered bait sites in late May 2009 when he apparently wounded a bear. Any wounded bear counts towards a hunter’s bag limit for the year in Game Management Unit (GMU) 2.

But prosecutors say Nugent failed to locate and harvest the bear. Then, a few days later he shot another bear and killed it. He later transported that bear aboard a boat which is a violation of Alaska regulations.

According to a plea agreement signed by Nugent and prosecutors, Nugent will be on two-years probation. He’ll also be prohibited from hunting in Alaska or on any Forest Service land for a year.

Nugent will also pay $600 restitution for the bear, pay a $10,000 fine, and create a public service announcement that will air every other week for a year on his television show. Nugent will talk about the hunter’s responsibility of knowing the rules and regulations for their hunts.

Nugent and his attorney Wayne Anthony Ross are expected to participate in a combination arraignment and entry of plea hearing in Ketchikan District Court on Tuesday, April 24th.

Famous for his hit ‘Cat Scratch Fever,’ Nugent is also a fervent advocate for hunting and gun rights. Along with Alaska Congressman Don Young, Nugent is a board member of the National Rifle Association.

(Corrected to reflect Tuesday hearing instead of Monday)

An eight-year and three-month prison sentence was handed down for Juneau man convicted of stealing a convenience store truck and crashing it into a local brewery to grab some beer.

Michael Rae, 55, was sentenced in Juneau Superior Court on Wednesday on charges on first degree vehicle theft (four years consecutively served), second degree burglary (four years consecutively served), third degree theft (four years concurrently served), and third degree criminal mischief (ninety days consecutively served) in connection with the incident in April of last year at the Alaskan Brewing Company in Lemon Creek.

The composite sentence includes terms for each charge to be served either consecutively or concurrently. A period of probation was not specified as part of the sentence.

The vehicle was a box van truck taken from the Lemon Creek Breeze-In and run into the front door of the brewery’s tasting room and gift shop. A bumper was left behind. Several six-packs, a case, and two five-gallon kegs were taken from the shop.

Repairs to the truck and brewery cost over $13,000. Value of the stolen beer was no more than $500.

Jurors convicted Rae during a January trial on the charges.

District Attorney Dave Brower called Rae a “worst offender” and asked that he be sentenced to twelve years in prison, four years below the maximum for all the charges. Defense attorney Kevin Higgins argued on Rae’s behalf for no more than six to ten years, despite another attempt by Rae to fire him. Rae himself recently tried to file a motion for a mistrial. He also tried to submit an incomprehensible and likely frivolous counterclaim against Higgins, Superior Court Judge Louis Mendendez, and Attorney General Michael Geraghty. Rae told Judge Menendez that he was not a qualified judge, a fake, a fraud with no jurisdiction in the case.

Wednesday’s sentencing hearing featured a belligerent, antagonistic, and disrespectful Rae calling the judge by his first name, telling him at the end to “shut the f*** up, you already said enough,” arguing with a Judicial Services escort, and resisting efforts to be fingerprinted as part of the normal sentencing routine.

Despite Rae’s constant outbursts and interruptions, Judge Menendez largely remained measured in dealing with Rae and explaining the sentence. He recognized that Rae seemed to be intelligent, with no diagnosed psychological issues, and with a strong family as potential support.

But Menendez said that Rae seemed to have a wanton disregard for property and for others, noting Rae’s previous prison sentences for assault, burglary, theft, and perjury.

Menendez figured isolation was the best course while probation would be “a lost cause.” At one point Menendez said “You are a dangerous man, you are criminally selfish.”

Prosecutors want 60 days to file a restitution order.

A late June trial date has been set for a Juneau man accused of letting his home become unsafe or unfit for human occupancy. Ronald W. Hohman, 71, is currently barred from his house at 3101 Nowell Avenue except to make repairs between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Three charges that Hohman violated CBJ code requiring the use of public sewers have been dropped by city prosecutors. But Hohman still faces three charges of using a building for human occupancy that has been declared a public nuisance.

His attorney Deborah Holbrook says it all started with Hohman’s tenants skipping out of paying the sewer bill. She says her client has already been jailed twice in the last few months. Police officers say they posted notices in October closing Hohman’s home.

CBJ officials say sewage backed up into Hohman’s garage even after they disconnected his sewer service at his home on Nowell Avenue.

But Holbrook says public works crews mistakenly shut off the wrong part of the sewer service. They disconnected a line that Hohman shared with a neighbor that fed into the main sewer. She believes that it was the neighbor’s blocked sewage that backed up in Hohman’s garage.