Crime & Courts

A 20-year-old Juneau man is behind bars after allegedly leading police on an early morning chase Sunday.

Keith Hanson is charged with driving under the influence, failure to stop, and driving without a valid license.

According to a JPD press release, police responded to a report of a vehicle fire near Douglas Harbor at about 3:30 Sunday morning. At about the same time there was another report of a single vehicle collision with a utility pole at the corner of St. Ann’s and Savikko Park Road. A witness told police that a van sped away from the area. Officers located the van and tried to pull it over. It eventually came to stop at the Channel View Apartments, where Hanson allegedly got out and tried to run.

Hanson was booked at Lemon Creek Correctional Center on 10-thousand dollars bail. Investigation into the vehicle arson and utility pole accident are ongoing.

A Soldotna woman has been indicted for lying on her 2010 Permanent Fund Dividend application.

According to the state departments of Law and Revenue, a Juneau Grand Jury has charged 62-year-old Sherrie Ann Ace of one count of unsworn falsification in the first degree, a Class C felony. The indictment also charges Ace of second degree attempted theft, a Class A misdemeanor.

Ace could face a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $50,000 if she is convicted of lying on her PFD application. If she is convicted of the attempted theft charge, the maximum sentence would be a year in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Alaska State Troopers are reporting a big break in a cold case of a child kidnapping and sexual assault.

Brooks E. Jackson of Wasilla has been linked to the crime, twenty years after it occurred.

The eight-year girl was abducted by a stranger from a bus stop near Wasilla in February, 1991. She was taken to a home and raped, then released a few hours later. After an investigation and a search, no suspect was ever identified.

Jackson was arrested and convicted in 2005 for a marijuana grow operation in his home. He was required to submit a DNA sample as part of his conviction. But Troopers say that Brooks committed suicide just before the sample could be analyzed.

The sample that Brooks provided was one of nearly ten million in the federal DNA database, but Troopers says it was a perfect match to a sample collected after the Wasilla abduction. After the DNA connection was made last September, Troopers say they began investigating Brooks, what he was doing in February in 1991 and what vehicles he was driving. Troopers say they were not able to locate the vehicle or home with a porch described by the girl during the abduction. But the DNA sample is an explicit tie to the case and they consider it closed.

There is no statute of limitations for such a crime in Alaska. But with the main suspect dead, Troopers say there will be no prosecution or conviction.

The girl is now 28-years old. The woman and her family were informed of the break in the case last week. She was not specifically named in an announcement on Tuesday and Troopers, Palmer District Attorney’s office, and the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory are asking everyone to respect her privacy.

This week’s segment focuses on a recent opinion issued by the Alaska Supreme Court on whether a police officer and the municipality can be sued for some conduct, such as tasering an 11-year old child.

At least $10,000 worth of heating oil has been stolen from Juneau homes so far this year. Since January, Juneau police say there’s been nearly twice the number of thefts than were reported for all of 2010.

The latest was for $200 in oil stolen from a tank at the back of a Lemon Creek area home. It’s prompted police to ask Juneau residents for help.

Spokeswoman Cindee Brown-Mills says police have no leads in any of the cases.

“We have in 2011 so far 19 cases and I wonder how many have not been reported or never discovered,” Brown-Mills says. “There’s not anyone area of town that’s been more affected than others so we don’t really have a whole lot to go on. This is really something we need the public’s help on if we’re going to catch people doing it.”

Local fuel-delivery companies say they’ve been getting their fair share of complaints about oil thieves, especially now that prices are more than $4 a gallon. Reliable Fuel says calls come in spurts, and have averaged two a month this year.

The best deterrents? Lock the tank, put it behind an enclosure, or install a video camera. Police say be a nosey neighbor and pay attention to what’s happening in your neighborhood.

Taku Oil’s Tim Hansen says locking caps will help, but a determined thief can still get your oil.

“Those plug-type caps seem to work better. They’ll go inside the hole in the tank there, rather than being up on a spout where someone can tip off the fill spout with a pipe wrench,” Hansen says. “Definitely the more obstacles you can put in people’s way, the less likely people are going to try to get some (oil) from you. Below ground tanks are pretty hard to get to.”

Juneau police say anyone with information on stolen oil should call JPD at 586-0600, or remain anonymous and leave a tip at www.juneaucrimeline.com.

Services are planned this week for a young Juneau man who died recently in Arkansas from injuries suffered in a random assault.

A Rosary will be said for Kevin Thornton on Monday, Aug 8th, at 7 p.m., at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in the Mendenhall Valley.

A funeral Mass is Tuesday, Aug 9th, at 7 p.m., also at St. Paul’s Catholic Church. A reception will follow.

The 19-year-old Thornton died last week in a Little Rock hospital, apparently the victim of a beating.

Hot Spring County sheriff’s officers say Thornton was walking with a friend in the Malvern area when he was attacked. Four teenage boys ages 14 to 17 have been charged with murder and are lodged in separate juvenile detention facilities outside the county.

Thornton is the son of Bill and Darlene Thornton of Juneau.