A report of a stolen truck Thanksgiving Day resulted in three people being arrested, including a Kodiak woman wanted on a felony drugs warrant who was discovered hiding in the stolen vehicle as it was being towed.

Thursday at about 11:30 p.m., Alaska State Troopers received a report of a stolen red 2013 Dodge Ram 1500 around the Parks Highway and Vienna Woods Access Road in Wasilla, according to an online dispatch.

Troopers spotted the truck heading northbound and conducted a traffic stop. The driver was identified as Wasilla resident Ilsa “Asia” Johnson, who was driving while her license was revoked, troopers said. She was arrested.

Troopers discovered that a passenger – Mitchell Kleewein of Wasilla — had an outstanding felony warrant, and he was also arrested, AST said. During an in-custody search of Kleewein, troopers noticed that he tried to toss a small plastic container.

“State Troopers collected the container and discovered Kleewein was in possession of heroin and crystal methamphetamine,” the dispatch says.

A second passenger was released from the scene and troopers impounded the truck for investigation. As the truck was being towed, AST received word that a third passenger was hiding under the backseat of the vehicle, covered by clothes, the dispatch says.

The towing company driver was notified of the hiding passenger and was told to meet troopers at the Wasilla Police Department.

“When the tow truck with [the] impounded vehicle arrived, the rear door of the impounded Dodge opened and a woman jumped from the moving tow truck and attempted to flee,” the dispatch says.

The woman — who tried to run from authorities “with a large purse filled with items from the vehicle” — was identified as Lynda Kopy of Kodiak, according to the AST dispatch.

Troopers said they are investigating the contents of the bag, along with items inside the Dodge Ram. Johnson, Kleewein and Kopy were transported and remanded at the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility.

A 20-year old woman is charged in the death of her 28-year-old uncle in the village of Napaskiak.

On Friday, at around 11 p.m., a Napaskiak Village Public Safety Officer received a call stating that Mathew Beaver was not breathing. When the VPSO responded to the residence, he found Beaver’s body “sitting slumped over on the couch,” according to a criminal complaint filed Saturday.

Kayla Jacob, who Alaska State Troopers have identified as Beaver’s niece, was kneeling on the floor sobbing. A large, bloody knife lay approximately 5 feet away from her. Jacob stated that she had stabbed Beaver, the complaint says.

AST was then notified that Beaver was found dead in his home, according to an online AST dispatch posted Sunday.

Jacob is charged with first-degree murder in connection with his death. She said that she had gotten into an argument with Beaver and was also angry at him for leaving her on the tundra during a recent trip to Bethel, the charging documents say.

Both Beaver and Jacob had been drinking alcohol, troopers say.

Beaver’s body had a single puncture wound above his left nipple, the complaint says. His body was sent to the state medical examiner’s office for an autopsy.

AST spokeswoman Beth Ipsen says both Beaver and Jacob lived at the residence where Beaver was found deceased. Napaskiak, a village of about 440 people, is located 7 miles from Bethel.

Dr. Shubhranjan Ghosh entered a plea of guilty Monday to one count of medical assistance fraud for falsely billing about $1.2 million in Medicaid.

Two members of the Anchorage medical community — a physician and a personal care agency owner — both pleaded guilty to two separate cases of Medicaid fraud, totaling to about $2.4 million in fraudulent claims.

The State of Alaska Department of Law confirms that both cases were investigated after the state was tipped off by citizens.

The state spends about $1.5 billion annually on Medicaid, said Assistant Attorney General Andrew Peterson in a phone interview.

“It’s definitely a concern when we see somebody who’s taking limited resources to line their own pockets,” he said.

Peterson adds that in the last two years alone, the state has prosecuted just under 100 criminal cases for Medicaid fraud. This, he says, is due in part to the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit expanding from three investigators to six about three years ago.

Anchorage psychiatrist pleads guilty to $1.2 million in Medicaid fraud 

An Anchorage doctor at the center of a million dollar Medicaid fraud case entered a guilty plea today, according to a release from the Alaska Department of Law.

Dr. Shubhranjan Ghosh, founder of Ghosh Psychiatric Services, is accused of fraudulently billing approximately $1.2 million in Medicaid for services that were never performed and creating false medical records in attempt to cover up the Medicaid fraud, the DOL says.

Peterson says the case was brought to attention after citizen complaint.

“The way the Medicaid system works is that it’s a system, in large part, based upon trust,” Peterson said. “A case like Dr. Ghosh’s case may have gone undiscovered for years, if at all, had it not been for a citizen informant coming in and reporting the fraud.”

Multiple agencies were involved in the investigation that led to the 39-year-old’s arrest in April. Ghosh was indicted in July on 18 felony counts, including fraudulently billing Medicaid, committing a scheme to defraud Medicaid and tampering with physical evidence in an ongoing investigation. Both are felony offenses and Ghosh may see up to three and a half years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000, according to the release.

Ghosh will also be ordered to repay Medicaid for all money received, says Peterson, adding that Medicaid didn’t pay 100 percent of the approximate $1.2 million in claims. A restitution hearing will be held to determine the exact number. Ghosh will also be barred from billing Medicaid in the future.

His sentencing is scheduled for April.

$1.2 million in restitution ordered against Anchorage Medicaid care and service provider 

Agnes Francisco, owner of a personal care attendant agency in Anchorage, pleaded guilty Friday to a single count of attempted medical assistance fraud.

Along with Francisco, Good Faith Services, LLC and another entity, Anchorage Adult Day Services, also entered guilty pleas.

The plea agreement calls for Good Faith, a personal care agency that provided Medicaid care and services to eligible recipients, to pay a fine of $300,000 and restitution in the amount of $1.2 million dollars, according to the DOL release. Anchorage Adult Day Services, charged with medical assistance fraud, will pay a fine of $20,000 and will be permanently suspended from providing Medicaid services.

In the case of Good Faith Services, a Medicaid recipient brought an allegation of potential fraud to the state’s attention, says Peterson.

Since the initial investigation in July 2013, the state has filed criminal chargers on 53 individuals associated with Good Faith, including over one dozen office employees that worked within the agency.

Investigation revealed that full-time office employees at Good Faith and Anchorage Adult Day Services were billing Medicaid for services before the  individual employees had their background checks verified.

“Part of what this company was doing was putting people in positions of trust and employing them and paying them for services that they were allegedly performing well in advance of their background check clearing,” Peterson said.

Francisco’s sentencing is scheduled for March.

A 50-year-old Juneau man died of a stab wound over the weekend and police are trying to determine if foul play was involved.

Police Lt. David Campbell tells the Juneau Empire (http://bit.ly/12kTg4J) that police are considering the death of Christopher K. Kenny a homicide until other circumstances are proven.

Police just before 5:30 a.m. Saturday took a 911 call that a man had been injured with a knife in a Lemon Creek apartment.

Two officers arrived within three minutes and began CPR. Kenny was rushed to Bartlett Regional Hospital and pronounced dead about an hour later.

An autopsy was ordered.

Campbell says eight officers are working on the case.

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Information from: Juneau (Alaska) Empire, http://www.juneauempire.com

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Alaska State Troopers are investigating two Mat-Su Valley home invasions that turned violent Monday night.

Troopers have not yet determined if the two incidents are linked, said AST spokeswoman Beth Ipsen. Both involved two male suspects, happened within a few hours of each other and were roughly 10 miles apart.

At about 4:10 p.m., troopers responded to a residence on Wasilla-Fishhook Road for a reported home invasion. An investigation by troopers found two unidentified males entered the home through an unlocked door and attacked a woman and her son, according to an AST dispatch posted Tuesday morning.

The men then ran away. The woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries and an AST K-9 was called to track the suspects. There appears to have been a vehicle parked nearby that the suspects drove away in, the dispatch says. An investigation is ongoing.

Around 6:50 p.m., authorities received a report of another home invasion and shooting at the Creekwood Park Apartments, located near the Palmer-Wasilla Highway and Trunk Road intersection, according to a separate AST dispatch posted Tuesday.

When troopers arrived at the apartment they found a man “suffering from multiple gunshot wounds,” the dispatch says.

According to troopers, two males reportedly entered the home and threatened the people inside. The man was shot, but he fired a gun at the intruders before they fled, the dispatch says. He was hospitalized at Mat-Su Regional Hospital for treatment of serious injuries. AST’s Alaska Bureau of Investigation is handling the ongoing investigation.

Around 7 p.m., two males showed up at Mat-Su Regional “suffering from what appears to be gunshot wounds,” said AST spokeswoman Beth Ipsen in an email. Because they’re in critical condition, troopers haven’t been able to talk to them to learn how they were injured.

“Right now, they could be separate incidents,” Ipsen said of the two males at the hospital and the home invasion. “We just don’t have enough information yet.”

–This is a developing story. 

A moose hunting trip turned into a drunken brawl Sunday night, resulting in two men arrested on assault charges.

At around 9:30 p.m., Alaska State Troopers received a call from 35-year-old Jeremy Rutherford, who said that he shot his hunting partner, Robert Edwards, in the face after he pointed a pistol at him.

Rutherford told troopers he was moose hunting with Edwards, 29, and another male in the Chistochina River drainage, located in the Copper River region, according to an AST dispatch posted online Tuesday. Rutherford also mentioned that they were intoxicated.

When troopers responded to the Chistochina River trailhead, they found Rutherford, who appeared to have sustained head injuries in a physical dispute and smelled strongly of alcohol.

Troopers then took a snowmachine to the hunting camp and found Edwards and the other male. Edwards had a bandage on his head and other injuries that indicated he’d also been in a physical altercation, troopers say. He also smelled strongly of alcohol.

Edwards was transported to Cross Road Medical Center in Glennallen for treatment. It was determined that his injuries were not from a gunshot wound, as Rutherford initially indicated, but were instead sustained during a physical altercation.

Both Edwards and Rutherford were charged with third- and forth-degree assault and fourth-degree misconduct involving weapons. The two men were held in custody, pending arraignment.

The Fairbanks North Star Borough School District has agreed to pay $920,000 to the family of a student who said he was sexually assaulted by a high school tutor.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://bit.ly/1vLK5pR) reports the settlement was reached after a nine-hour mediation session Monday in Seattle between attorneys for the school district and the family.

Borough insurance will cover $670,000 of the cost and the school district will pay $250,000.

The family sued last spring, claiming the district ignored warning signs of inappropriate behavior with students by Hutchison High School tutor and correspondence teacher Claude Fowlkes III.

Fowlkes has been charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse of a minor and is awaiting trial.

___

Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

A Fairbanks man and his father and used a metal bed frame and a snow plow to detain a suspected truck thief.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://bit.ly/1FNDLzi) reports the truck owner was working at his father’s shop Monday when he heard his pickup being driven off. He gave chase and jumped into the truck bed.

The man told police he banged on the rear window, and when the suspect wouldn’t stop, used a metal bed frame to break it and strike the driver.

Meanwhile, the truck owner’s father had pulled up in a plow truck.

When the suspect attempted to flee, the father bumped him with the plow, knocking him down. The father and son restrained the suspect until police arrived.

The 49-year-old suspect has been charged with felony theft.

___

Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Anchorage police have turned to the public for help regarding a local cathedral that was vandalized and burglarized late Tuesday afternoon.

Just before 5 p.m., staff at the Holy Family Cathedral contacted the Anchorage Police Department to report a vandalism at the church, located downtown at 800 W. Fifth Avenue. Staff reported that various property inside the church had been damaged.

When police responded, they found overturned chairs and benches, ripped audio wiring and other broken property. There was no sign of forced entry found, according to a statement released by APD.

Church staff believe the crime occurred between 2:30 and 4:30 p.m., police say.

Police are encouraging anyone with information on this incident to contact APD at 786-8900. Those who want to submit a tip anonymously can do so via the Crime Stoppers website or call 561-STOP.

The suspect taken into custody following an October standoff in Mountain View was arraigned Tuesday in federal court on firearms charges.

The Anchorage Police Department identified 26-year-old Eric Nebreja as the man who locked himself in a residence on the 200 block of North Flower Street on Oct. 9. Police were able to apprehend Nebreja after deploying tear gas into the apartment he was hiding in.

According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Nebreja — who has two prior felony convictions for second-degree assault and third-degree misconduct involving weapons — had a .40-caliber pistol in his possession that day.

Charged with one count of felon in possession of a firearm, Nebeja faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.

The Buckland School was placed on lockdown Wednesday after the father of a student threatened to shoot kids he said were bullying his daughter, Alaska State Troopers say.

Around 9:15 a.m., Northwest Arctic Borough School District officials received a call from a “frustrated” 34-year-old Fred Armstrong, who said his 4-year-old daughter was being picked on, according to an AST dispatch.

“After being assured the school would investigate the situation, Armstrong stated he was ready to come to the school with a gun and shoot the kids who bullied his daughter,” the dispatch says.

The school went into lockdown and troopers, along with the help of the Buckland village police officer, responded and arrested Armstrong, who was on supervised probation for an alcohol smuggling conviction, AST said.

Armstrong was taken to the Kotzebue Regional Jail, where he was held for arraignment for second-degree terroristic threatening and a petition to revoke probation.

A well-known Anchorage DJ is accused of possessing and distributing child pornography to dozens of people and for soliciting pornographic images from children directly, authorities say.

James Laplante — also known as “Jimmy O’Brien” on country station KASH 107. 5′s morning drive time show — was arrested late Thursday and charged with five counts related to distributing and possessing child pornography and online enticement of a minor, according to a statement from the Alaska Department of Law. He’s scheduled to be arraigned at the Anchorage Jail Court Friday at 2:30 p.m.

Laplante, a father with biological and adopted children, was taken into custody after the Anchorage Police Department Cyber Crimes Unit and the Alaska Bureau of Investigation’s Technical Crimes Unit served search warrants of his home and office at the Dimond Center, the DOL said.

APD learned of the 48-year-old’s alleged crimes Oct. 2 when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) filed two “Cybertip” Anchorage area reports, according to charging documents.

In one case, Instagram — a photo-sharing phone application — reported through NCMEC that user “thematthewwhartley” uploaded 13 images of child sexual exploitation to the account, the charges say. Authorities determined the account belonged to Laplante and that one of the IP addresses used to upload the pictures originated from his home address.

In a second instance, an image flagged by Google was linked to an IP address that originated at Clear Channel Communications, Laplante’s employer, located in the Dimond Center.

A search by authorities of Laplante’s home and office revealed more than 1,000 images of child sexual exploitation on the external hard drive connected to his work computer. Investigators also found evidence he used the social media texting app “KIK” to “solicit child pornography images from children directly,” charging documents said.

In a non-custodial interview with authorities in his work office, Laplante admitted to creating the Instagram account and allowing about 50 other users to also access it. He denied producing images of child exploitation involving his own children — biological and adopted.

“Investigation is ongoing as to any potential sexual abuse that may have occurred,” the charges say.

A woman suffered serious injuries after she was struck by a man operating an ATV on the Yukon River Saturday.

At about 6 p.m., Alaska State Troopers responded to a report that Jana Duny, 23, was struck by a Honda Foreman ATV on the river. Four witnesses identified Christopher Gregory as the man operating the ATV at “a high rate of speed,” according to an online AST dispatch posted Monday.

Further investigation revealed that the 19-year-old man struck Duny with his ATV, stopped to apologize and then drove off toward Alakanuk, troopers say.

Witnesses used a snowmachine to transport Duny to a clinic in Emmonak, where it was determined she had suffered serious injuries. She was transported to Anchorage for further care, troopers say.

Troopers arrested Gregory in Alakanuk. His bail was set at $10,000.

A company that operated a drill ship in the Arctic, under contract with Shell, has struck a deal with prosecutors and says it will plead guilty to environmental and maritime crimes.

As part of the agreement, Noble Drilling U.S. LLC will plead guilty to eight felony counts and pay $12.2 million in fines and community service payments, according to a statement from the Alaska U.S. District Attorney’s Office.

Noble is accused of knowingly not maintaining accurate records, including an oil record book and a ballast water record book. In order to maintain stability, ships fill their ballast tanks with water, which has the potential to contain other organisms.

“By design, water ballast tanks should only contain uncontaminated seawater,” the statement says. “Noble pumped oily skimmer tank fluids and deck water with a sheen into several ballast tanks on the Noble Discoverer.”

Noble is also accused with “knowingly and willfully failing to notify the U.S. Coast Guard of hazardous conditions aboard the drill ship Noble Discoverer,” according to the District Attorney’s office.

The company operated the Noble Discoverer and the mobile drill unit Kulluk as part of Shell’s exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea in 2012. Shell says it didn’t learn about the problem until it was alerted by the Coast Guard after drilling was completed.

Other admissions by Noble include:

• Failing to log that the Noble Discoverer’s oil content meter audible alarm did not work.
• The company had trouble managing the bilge and wastewater that accumulated in the Noble Discoverer’s engine room, which caused problems. As a solution, Noble created a makeshift barrel and pump system to discharge the water, but didn’t process it through the required pollution prevention equipment required by law.
• Negligently discharging machinery space bilge water from the Noble Discoverer into Broad Bay, Unalaska on July 22, 2012. While anchored in Dutch Harbor, the drill ship’s bilge holding tank 27S overflowed and went overboard, which created a sheen in Broad Bay.

In 2012, the Kulluk – which was not self-propelled and had to be towed — and the Noble Discoverer made “several” U.S. port calls in Washington and Alaska on their way to the Shell drilling site off the coast of Alaska. After leaving the drill site, the Kulluk broke free from its tow in a severe storm and ran aground off the coast of Unalaska. The Noble Discoverer had to be dead-ship towed from Dutch Harbor to Seward because of failures with its main engine and other equipment.

Noble must also implement an environmental compliance plan, and will be placed on probation for four years.

The guilty plea agreement was publicly released Monday, and at a presser held by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, it was announced that the judge overseeing the case will now have to set a date for the arraignment.

After two months of investigation, a Nome woman has been charged with arson and assault after allegedly setting fire to her apartment complex.

Kandie Allen, 34, faces seven felony charges. Investigators said Allen intentionally set her Third Avenue apartment building on fire at the end of September.

The fire displaced all the building’s tenants. Allen is charged with five third-degree assaults after she “recklessly placed another person in fear of imminent serious physical injury by means of a dangerous instrument,” according to charging documents.

Allen went to the hospital after the fire, where she was “unruly and attempted to kick, punch and bite multiple people inside the emergency room,” court documents say.

Police say Allen’s blood alcohol level at the time was .315, which is about four times the legal limit.

Last updated 11:50 p.m.

A suspect is in custody after a 48-year-old assistant district attorney — a former Washington state representative — was shot and killed in Barrow Monday, officials say.

Brian Sullivan’s death is being investigated as a homicide, according to a press release from the North Slope Borough. His next-of-kin have been notified of the shooting, which reportedly occurred at 5318 Laura Madison St. around 10 p.m.

Court officials say 47-year-old Ronald “Bun Bun” Fischer is being held in connection with Sullivan’s death.

Court records show Fischer has an extensive criminal history dating back to 1985. Most recently, in September 2014, he was charged with several felonies, including kidnapping (using his young daughter as a shield/hostage) and third-degree assault.

Screen shot from a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management report for Shell, where officials say Fischer worked as a contractor.

Nick Dunbar, who has lived in Barrow for 35 years, lives next door to Fischer. Dunbar says he’s still getting used to the idea murder happened so close to home. He says rumors started flying around town Monday night as people tried to piece together what happened.

“I’m kind of surprised and it’s really sad because I know them both,” said Dunbar. “I know their kids. It’s sad. Everybody lose. It’s a stupid situation.”

He says he knows both Fischer and his wife and knew Sullivan by his face, adding that the attorney was well-liked.

In a message to KTVA, Fischer’s niece, April, says her family members “are all in shock and saddened.”

“Our family extends our deepest condolences to the Sullivan family,” she wrote.

At the request of the acting chief of police for the borough, Alaska State Troopers are helping with the investigation, said AST spokeswoman Megan Peters in an email.

“[The North Slope Borough Police Department] has requested the Alaska State Troopers, Alaska Bureau of Investigation (ABI) to respond and take responsibility for the investigation and to work closely with the Department of Law, Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals,” Peters wrote.

Sullivan previously served in the military and has been in Barrow since the spring of 2012, said Richard Svobodny, deputy attorney general of the state Department of Law’s criminal division. He also served in the Washington state House, representing the 29th District as a Democrat, according to Gerry Sheehan, the Legislative Information Center coordinator for the Washington state Legislature.

In Alaska, he crossed party lines and was one of the district chairs for the Alaska Republican Party, according to the group’s Facebook page.

Svobodny described Sullivan as someone very involved in his community.

“There are some places where a person goes into a small community and they kind of isolate themselves doing the work. Brian Sullivan was not that type of person. He was involved in the community, he was always at community events,” said Svobodny, adding that Sullivan had attended a sporting event earlier Monday evening and was active in a local church.

Svobodny recalled how when he interviewed Sullivan for the position he had expressed a strong desire to live and work in a community with a rich culture.

“That’s the kind of prosecutor we’re looking for, someone who can get into the community and know the community,” he said. “Most of our lawyers are like that but sometimes we get people who are just doing it for a job, but that wasn’t Brian. He was there to help the community.”

Sullivan was one of two assistant district attorneys in Barrow handling criminal cases, Svobodny said. The other is on vacation now, and an assistant attorney general was sent to the city to pick up Sullivan’s caseload and also assist authorities with the homicide investigation.

Three people have been arrested in a multi-agency effort to crack down on the illegal sale and distribution of heroin in Nome.

The arrests were made after a year long undercover operation conducted by the Nome Police Department and Alaska State Troopers’ Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics Team, or WAANT.

Kevin Beamish, 22, and Yvonne Adkison, 22, were brought into custody Thursday night after Beamish allegedly sold 0.2 grams of heroin to an undercover officer with the Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics Team.

The officer had been in contact with Beamish since January 2014 and reports having purchased heroin — in an undercover capacity — three times from the suspect.

Troopers report that Beamish entered and exited the home of Yvonne Adkison Thursday before delivering the drugs to the undercover officer. Adkison was also arrested. Troopers say a search warrant for her home revealed roughly three grams of heroin, almost $2,000 in cash, and Alaska Airlines tickets in her name.

Adkison is a dive tender featured on the Discovery Channel reality television program Bering Sea Gold.

In a separate arrest Friday, 30-year-old Kelly McDaniel was also brought into custody and now faces 11 felony charges of “misconduct involving a controlled substance” after allegedly selling heroin to an undercover officer on three occasions.

Nome Police report two of those sales took place within 500 feet of Nome Elementary School — a designation that appears to have amplified charges against McDaniel.

Nome Police Chief John Papasodora says, “All suspects were arrested without incident.”

He adds that Nome Police Department K9 unit Icon was “used extensively in the case.” In all, ten grams of heroin were seized in the arrests — along with “scales, cash, paraphernalia, and vehicles,” according to police.

Court documents show that Beamish and Adkison were arraigned last week. Beamish faces eight felony drug charges and is being held on $20,000 bail. Adkison faces three felony drug charges and is being held on $30,000 bail. Both are scheduled to appear before the Nome District Judicial Court on Dec. 15.

As of Monday night, McDaniel was still awaiting arraignment.

This story has been republished with permission from KNOM. Read the original article here. 

A Fairbanks grand jury has indicted a former North Pole police officer on identity theft charges.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://bit.ly/1wgNyM2) reports 33-year-old Ryan D. Webb is charged with four felonies, including two counts of criminal impersonation and one each of theft and fraudulent use of an access device.

Prosecutors say Webb used another man’s personal information to obtain a credit card.

Webb joined the North Pole Police Department in February 2009.

He was fired in February 2011. Police would not release the reason for the termination, citing confidentiality requirements.

Officer Chad Rathbun says the identity theft case occurred in January 2013, nearly two years after Webb left the department.

Police say the victim of the identity theft was Webb’s former roommate.

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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Ronald "Bun Bun" Fischer in the Barrow courthouse during his arraignment on Wednesday morning. Photo: Mary Virginia Stroud

Ronald "Bun Bun" Fischer is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of assistant district attorney Brian Sullivan. / Photo: Mary Virginia Stroud.

The home of Mabel Kaleak in Barrow, AK (left) where Brian Sullivan was killed Monday night. Photo: Jacob Curtis

Charging documents reveal jealousy may have played a role in the fatal shooting of assistant district attorney Brian Sullivan, who was allegedly killed by 47-year-old Ronald “Bun Bun” Fischer — a felon with more than 21 convictions.

Sullivan, 48, had been working in Barrow since the spring of 2012. A sworn affidavit signed by Lt. Travis Welch with the North Slope Borough Police Department says he was unarmed and sitting on a couch when he was shot twice in the face with a shotgun in a home Monday night. Fischer was later arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

“His body was found with his feet crossed on the floor in front of him as he sat — suggesting that Sullivan made no attempt to confront, disarm his murderer — or to flee,” Welch wrote. “In other words, Fischer shot a man who was seated, unarmed, and who posed no threat.”

Security video from the AC Value Center across the street from the shooting scene shows Fischer entered the home of 37-year-old Mabel Kaleak carrying a shotgun just before the fatal shots were fired. The footage also shows Fischer left that residence moments later, with the firearm, “in a struggle” with Kaleak — who he was not supposed to have contact with as part of overlapping release orders in several pending cases. Fischer was also supposed to stay more than 100 feet away from Kaleak’s home.

Kaleak, who has children with Fischer, told investigators that she and Sullivan had started “‘talking’ — implying a personal relationship — on November 21, 2014,” the affidavit says.

Sullivan was planning to take her on a trip to Hawaii so they could “get some sun,” Kaleak told authorities. She also said she had told Fischer that she was dating Sullivan.

“She said that she was under the impression that Fischer was comfortable with that, because she and Fischer were ‘working together’ and being civil for the children,” the affidavit says.

 The night of the shooting

Monday evening, Kaleak met Sullivan at Barrow High School, where they had been working out for about a week, she told authorities. As they were doing laps around the track, they encountered Fischer, who “looked upset, and didn’t say anything,” the affidavit says. She asked him if he was all right, but he didn’t respond. Later, when Kaleak walked downstairs, she saw Fischer walk near Sullivan, who was lifting weights, and “just [glared] at him.”

After working out, Sullivan and Kaleak went to her home to eat dinner and watch a movie. She had just showered and was getting dressed in a bedroom when she said she heard a door shut and heard Fischer say, “Who are you…?” Then, she heard a gunshot, Welch wrote.

Scared, Kaleak said she hid in her bedroom closet because she was afraid Fischer would shoot her. Fischer walked into the bedroom holding a shotgun and a jacket and found the 37-year-old.

“She explained that she lunged at [Fischer] and held onto him tight — to keep the gun compressed between them so he could not point it and shoot,” Welch wrote.

Wanting to get close to a door so she could run, Kaleak kept holding onto Fischer as they walked out of the bedroom, she told authorities. As they approached the living room area, she said she could smell gunpowder and “didn’t want to look for [Sullivan] because she didn’t want to see him,” the affidavit says.

“At this point, Fischer said, ‘Look at what you made me do… ” Welch wrote.

Once outside, Kaleak said she hopped in Sullivan’s running Ford Bronco and rushed to the police station.

“At 9:58 p.m., [Kaleak] entered the lobby area of the North Slope Borough Police Department — a distance of a little more than a mile from her house,” Welch wrote. “She was hysterical, barefoot and wore no jacket. She immediately reported that [Sullivan] had been shot.”

Police secured Kaleak’s house by 10:02 p.m. They discovered a shotgun wadding cap inside Sullivan’s mouth and two shotgun shells on the kitchen floor.

“In other words, the location of the hulls was consistent with having been ejected from a right-handed shotgun as one faced [Sullivan],” the affidavit says.

At 10:08 p.m., a police dispatcher received a phone call from a man, identified as Fischer, who was “crying and distraught,” Welch wrote. Hours later, he told a dispatcher his location — the north end of the old Barrow military runway — and said he wanted to surrender. He was taken into custody roughly two hours after the shooting.

Police obtained a search warrant for Fischer’s truck and located a loaded shotgun and a garment that authorities believe was used to conceal the weapon. In an interview with Welch, Fischer said that Kaleak had told him she was not “seeing anyone,” the lieutenant wrote, and that the very idea “broke his heart.”

Criminal past

Fischer has more than 20 criminal convictions, including disorderly conduct, harassment, assault, driving while intoxicated and felony criminal mischief. On Sept. 21, he was arrested for punching Kaleak in the face in a home in Barrow. Sgt. James Michels responded, who reported Fischer said he would fight him after the officer tried to question him, a police report says.

The sergeant drew his Taser, but Fischer “picked up his six-year-old daughter to use as a shield to prevent [the officer] from tasing him,” according to the report. During the course of Fischer’s arrest, he threatened Michels “over twenty times.”

“I am used to being threatened and have been before,” Michels wrote in a report recounted in Welch’s affidavit. “However, based on [Fischer's] articulation, state of mind, and persistence, I believe his threats to be true …”

On Nov. 29, Kaleak called police and said Fischer was harassing her. Kaleak told police that Fischer was at her residence when she got home and that he “yelled and cursed at her before leaving,” a police report says. Police then talked to Fischer, who said he was upset because she “had arrived at the residence late with Brian Sullivan.”

Police talked to Sullivan over the phone, who said Fischer had been texting Kaleak during dinner. Kaleak told him that Fischer texted that he had been following Kaleak, found her car and slashed her tires. Sullivan also noted that he had removed himself as the prosecutor from Fischer’s cases — “presumably because of his friendship with [Kaleak],” the report says.

“Tragically, [Kaleak] said that on a date — sometime after November 21, [Sullivan] made a comment and asked, if he needed to be concerned about Fischer ‘spraying bullets through the house’ because he (Brian) was there,” Welch wrote. “Kaleak told police that she responded, ‘he hasn’t done that before…’”

View full charging documents.

–This is a developing story.

Trial has been set for a Tanana man accused of killing two Alaska State Troopers last spring.

Nathanial Kangas has been charged in the deaths of Fairbanks-based Sgt. Scott Johnson and Trooper Gabe Rich last May in Tanana. A judge on Tuesday set trial in the case for April.

Superior Court Judge Paul Lyle also suggested a simulcast of the trial that could be shown in a Fairbanks courtroom.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports (http://bit.ly/1zwKDkO) that troopers who served with the slain officers have been a regular courtroom presence during hearings.

But one of the defense attorneys has raised concerns that their presence could intimidate a jury.

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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com

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