A 45-year-old Anchorage woman will serve 3 1/2 years in a federal prison after being convicted of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

The U.S. attorney’s office says in a release that Elizabeth Ingalsbe was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage.

Prosecutors say she was a member of a mail theft ring in Anchorage, cashing checks after they were stolen from mailboxes. The checks were altered to change the name of the payee and to increase the amount of the checks.

Authorities say the checks were usually made out for $100 or less but were altered to pay $900.

About 21 people and organizations were victimized; one check was intended as a donation to a veteran’s memorial.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Jurors in Alaska have found a commercial fisherman guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of a Kansas diver who died while harvesting sea cucumbers.

The jury on Friday found Joshua Wodyga not guilty of manslaughter.

Prosecutors argued Wodyga’s negligence in maintaining an air compressor and air filter led to the death of Levi Adams, of Leawood, Kansas. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning and drowning while he and Wodyga were diving in 2013.

Ketchikan Daily News (http://ow.ly/HuzMd ) reports Wodyga was found guilty after the jury deliberated for about three hours on Thursday and about five-and-a-half hours on Friday.

Adams’ parents and sister attended the weeklong trial. Assistant District Attorney Ben Hofmeister says they’re glad there’s accountability for the death.

Wodyga faces up to 10 years in prison.

___

Information from: Ketchikan (Alaska) Daily News, http://www.ketchikandailynews.com

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The 2015 tax season recently kicked off and residents have already reported incidents of fraudulent activity, Anchorage police say.

Police are warning residents of a “tax scam.” At least 10 calls came in today from residents that have received “fraudulent phone calls and messages from someone claiming to represent the ‘IRS,’” according to a release from the Anchorage Police Department.

“With each of the cases reported today, a caller accuses the citizen of owing money and threatens with arrest or other negative consequences if the citizen fails to take immediate action,” APD says.

According to information published by the actual Internal Revenue Service, contact with taxpayers won’t be made in the form of an unexpected phone call. An initial warning will be sent through the mail. The IRS will also not initiate contact with taxpayers via email, text or social media to ask for payment.

None of the callers who reported the scam have agreed to comply with the caller’s demands, APD says.

The IRS expects to receive about 150 million individual income tax returns this year. The deadline to file returns and pay any tax due is Apr. 15.

To file a tax scam complaint, visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website. More information about this scam and others is available here.

After four vehicles were stolen between 7 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. this morning, Anchorage police are reminding drivers not to leave their cars running with keys in the ignition.

APD spokeswoman Jennifer Castro said all four vehicles were warming up with the keys in them. She says drivers should use a remote start instead because it’s more secure.

Police had three of the four vehicles recovered, as of about 11:30 a.m.

About 15 minutes after a burgundy Ford F-150 truck was stolen from the 3400 block of E. 68th Avenue, police received a call about a person driving a truck while slumped over the steering wheel. Castro says when officers arrived, the person was passed out in the front seat.

“It appeared that driver may have been impaired, not necessarily under alcohol, but possibly under the influence of something else,” Castro said.

Officers found the stolen silver Kia Forte and the silver Plymouth Voyager but say they haven’t identified any suspects.

APD is still looking for a black Toyota Tacoma truck with the license plate EWH463, stolen from the 6000 block of Staedem Drive around 7 a.m.

Police are encouraging anyone with information on these incidents to call APD at 786-8900.

Two inmates with escape plans assaulted a corrections officer after persuading her to open a cell door to give them toilet paper, authorities say.

Sunday around 10:15 p.m., the Alaska Bureau of Investigation was notified a female officer had been attacked in the booking area of the Anchorage Jail. The two male inmates “lured a CO to open the cell door to give them toilet paper,” according to an online dispatch from Alaska State Troopers.

After receiving the toilet paper, the inmates rushed the door the officer was trying to close. They then struck the officer and put her in a chokehold, troopers said.

Other corrections officers responded and pried the inmates off the officer. One of the inmates tried to escape through an exit door but couldn’t open it. He then tried to hide in a shower room also located inside the jail’s booking area.

The two inmates were restrained and secured at the Anchorage Jail. The officer was treated for minor injuries at Providence Alaska Medical Center and released.

There have not been other recent cases of attempted escape similar to this one, said Sherrie Daigle with the Department of Corrections.

The DOC has identified the inmates as a 20-year-old booked for malicious destruction of property and an outstanding warrant and a 35-year-old booked for second-degree theft and an outstanding warrant. Both were brought into the facility this month, Daigle said.

Assault and attempted escape charges will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office, troopers said.

Three arrests were made in connection with a drug trafficking ring operating out of an East Anchorage nail parlor, according to the Anchorage Police Department.

Police say 44-year-old Toa Ly, a part-time resident of both Seattle and Anchorage, was running a drug trafficking operation from Fashion Nails, a salon he owned in a strip mall on Muldoon Road. Charging documents show at least two men worked for him: 36-year-old Pao Lee — also known as Ninja — and 43-year-old Murville Lampkin.

All three are facing drug trafficking charges in federal court, accused of dealing heroin and methamphetamine. Two of the men face money-laundering charges as well.

Authorities say the men made numerous drug sales to a police informant during their eight-month investigation. Some of the deals went down in the parking lot of the Carrs store on Debarr Road and outside the McDonald’s on Muldoon Road. Bank records show more than $300,000 was deposited into accounts in Ly’s name.

“This was all drug money,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Feldis. “Either the proceeds of drug sales or money that was going to be used to facilitate or purchase other drugs which were then going to be sold back here in Alaska.”

Police took the men into custody last week. They say both Lampkin and Lee had methamphetamine on them at the time of their arrest. Feldis says this was a “significant” amount of drugs that were seized. Lampkin is a former bouncer at the Rumrunners bar, who was found guilty last year of assaulting a customer.

Anchorage police temporarily closed a portion of Norene Street to investigate a shooting that occurred earlier this afternoon.

Just after 2 p.m., the Anchorage Police Department received a call from a male who said he had been shot. A woman at the scene, in the area of the 1500 block of Norene Street, identified herself as the victim’s wife. She said he was on his way to meet her at “CITC” when it happened.

“He was on the phone with me, that person was yelling at him, he yelled,” she said, adding that after her husband had been injured, she told him to call APD.

Police responded to the scene and located a male with a gunshot wound to his lower body, according to a statement from APD. The man was transported to a local hospital with what appeared to be a non-life-threatening wound.

“At this time, police are investigating the shooting to determine whether any criminal activity was associated with the incident,” APD says.

At the scene, officers could also be seen detaining a man, placing him into the back of a police vehicle.

This is a developing story.

A Wasilla woman convicted of lying to the U.S. Department of Agriculture about a business she owned and concealing criminal activity on the part of the company’s former president has been sentenced.

Karen Olson, 68, was sentenced Tuesday to serve 30 days in prison and serve 250 hours of community service by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess. She was also ordered to pay a fine of $2,000. Olson, former owner of Valley Dairy, Inc., originally faced a possible sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, but Burgess took her age and ability to pay the fine into account and lessened her sentence, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Olson was charged with making false statements to influence the USDA about how hundreds of thousands of dollars were being spent concerning Valley Dairy president and co-owner Kyle Beus, who used grant money from the government for personal use.

In court, Olson refused to take responsibility for her actions, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office, choosing instead to blame her “political enemies.” Furthermore, prior to imposing his sentence, Burgess stated that the level of deceit on Olsen’s part was “frankly a little breathtaking,” the release says.

A Tyonek man has been arrested after making a Facebook post that put many in the village on high alert, troopers say.

Justin Trenton, 26, was arrested Tuesday after Alaska State Troopers received word Monday from the Tebughna School principal that threats made by him against members of the community had led to a lockdown of the school and a village-wide public safety patrol.

According to court documents, Trenton’s post included phrases like “I will be stalking, hiding, waiting for you all.” He references adults in Tyonek, Anchorage and even the village school that he claimed were sending inappropriate texts and photos to his underage daughter, as well as dealing drugs to her and other kids.

Trenton told troopers the post was made to “‘wake up the village’ and make them do something about the perverts that were preying on the children.”

Due to the extremely violent nature of the post, however, Trenton was arrested and charged with second-degree terroristic threatening. He was taken to the Wildwood Pretrial Facility in Kenai and is being held without bail.

Attempts to contact Trenton’s family have been unsuccessful.

A tip from Microsoft Corporation has led to the arrest of a Palmer man, who faces multiple child pornography charges.

In August 2014, the Alaska Bureau of Investigation received a tip from Microsoft that one of its users had “attempted to email known images depicting child sexual abuse to another user,” according to an AST dispatch posted Wednesday.

Further investigation confirmed the identity of the suspect as 34-year-old Brandon Muston. After obtaining a search warrant, troopers say evidence seized from Muston’s residence Wednesday confirmed the allegations.

Troopers arrested Muston on four counts of possession of child pornography. He was transported to the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility. Bail was set at $15,000 plus a court-approved third-party custodian.

Photo courtesy AST

Photo courtesy AST

Update, 9 a.m.

Troopers contacted Kaylyn Nelson and the vehicle is accounted for. They are still looking for Michael Bracht.

Original story

Alaska State Troopers are searching for a 38-year-old man with a history of not cooperating with authorities after he ran away from his court-appointed third-party custodian Wednesday evening.

Around 6:45 p.m., troopers were notified Michael Bracht had fled a Fairbanks home on Geist Road in violation of his condition of release. Bracht, who is considered “very dangerous,” had been ordered to report to the Fairbanks Correctional Center by 5:30 p.m. to start his jail term, according to AST spokeswoman Megan Peters.

Back in September, Bracht escaped from the Northstar Center, leading Fairbanks police and troopers on a high-speed chase that led to a 10-hour standoff in which he threatened to kill himself and his girlfriend, 25-year-old Kaylyn Nelson. Authorities used a ram device to smash the windows of Bracht’s vehicle and take him into custody.

As part of a plea deal, Bracht pleaded guilty to reduced charges Monday and was allowed to be released from custody for 12 hours to a third party, Peters said. Authorities suspect he is with Nelson, who may be driving a green Subaru. The license plate number is unknown.

Troopers and police urge anyone with information on Bracht’s whereabouts to contact them. He is considered to be “very dangerous and should not be approached,” Peters said.

Police have charged a man with attempted murder for allegedly shooting a man in the face at Nunaka Valley Park earlier this month.

Puipuia Lipoi Alaelua, 31, of Anchorage was also charged with three counts of assault and weapons misconduct. He was arrested last week for an outstanding felony federal warrant for probation violations, according to the Anchorage Police Department, and is in custody at the Anchorage Jail.

On Jan. 13, 30-year-old Joseph Naufahu called authorities for help after he was shot in the jaw at the East Anchorage park, located near the intersection of DeBarr Road and Boniface Parkway. Medics responded, who discovered the bullet was ”still wedged in the victim’s mouth where one of his teeth was now missing,” APD said in a statement.

According to Naufahu, Alaelua — an acquaintance — had agreed to meet him at an area gas station for a drug deal, APD said. At the gas station, Naufahu got into a vehicle with Alaelua and the pair ended up at the park. Once there, Naufahu was asked to get out of the vehicle. After stepping out of the vehicle, “the suspect shot Naufahu once in the face and then fled the park in the vehicle they arrived in,” the APD statement says.

A man was injured in an early morning home invasion shooting in Northeast Anchorage, police say.

Around 12:30 a.m. Thursday, police were called to the 200 block of Zappa Place near Muldoon Road after three men wearing ski masks reportedly broke into a home and tried to rob one of the people inside.

A 26-year-old man in the home was shot multiple times, the Anchorage Police Department said. The victim was taken to a local hospital with severe but non-life-threatening wounds, APD spokeswoman Jennifer Castro said in a statement, and the trio reportedly fled in a vehicle.

Scott Lofthouse, an APD patrol officer who responded to the shooting, remarked that the recent shootings remind him of Anchorage in the mid-90s.

“We used to be pretty violent as a city back in the mid-90s. I’m not sure of the exact reason behind all the shootings but we have had an extraordinary amount of them really over the last year,” said Lofthouse, who is a former gang intelligence officer.

Uncooperative victims make the job harder, Lofthouse said.

“The main problem that we’re running into is that many of these scenes, these house parties and these home-invasion robberies, the victims aren’t being very cooperative,” he said. “And if the victims aren’t cooperative we don’t get a whole lot of information and we don’t have a lot of leads to work with.”

No arrests or charges have been made as of late Thursday morning, Castro said, and the home invasion remains under investigation.

“The event appears to have been targeted and possibly drug related,” Castro wrote.

Police ask anyone with information to call APD at 786-8900. Tips can be reported anonymously via Crime Stoppers by calling 561-STOP or going online.

–This is a developing story.

A 26-year-old former Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson soldier was sentenced to 62 years in prison Friday for murdering his wife in 2012 in their Anchorage home.

A jury found David Lopez guilty of first-degree murder back in June 2014 for shooting his wife Sara Lopez. On Dec. 12, 2012, Lopez’s wife brought their 2-year-old daughter to the JBER hospital over concerns about bruises on their child’s face, neck and ear, according to the Alaska Department of Law.

Anchorage police and the Office of Children’s Services were contacted about the girl’s condition and the child was taken from her mother. When his wife returned home, Lopez called OCS and threatened to shoot “everyone at the office unless his daughter was returned,” the DOL statement says.

He later called 911 to report he had shot Sara.

In addition to the 62-year sentence for first- and second-degree murder, Lopez also received one year for second-degree terroristic threatening and 15 days for resisting arrest.

This is a developing story.

A former employee of the State of Alaska Crime Detection Laboratory has pleaded guilty to several charges stemming from an investigation into his theft of drugs from work.

Stephen Palmer, 54, was arrested in March of last year, and faced 10 charges before agreeing to a plea deal, reducing the list of charges by half. Palmer was accused of stealing drugs from the crime lab by replacing a portion of the lab’s primary reference standards with inositol, a chemical commonly used to lower the purity, or “cut,” drugs. The standards are nearly 100 percent pure versions of various drugs and are used by the lab to compare with evidence brought in by law enforcement.

He will be sentenced in June for one consolidated count of second-degree theft, one count of tampering with physical evidence, two counts of fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance and one count of official misconduct.

Palmer faces up to 21 years in prison and $210,000 in fines.

A former University of Alaska Anchorage employee was sentenced Friday for sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl.

Steven Pyle, 49, was sentenced to 30 years in prison by Anchorage Superior Court Judge Philip R. Volland. He pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual abuse of a minor last year.

Pyle was arrested after his wife told police he had been inappropriately touching a 9-year-old daughter of friends, who had come to stay with them. She recorded a confession from Pyle, which she turned over to police, according to court documents. Pyle and his wife were foster parents for nearly a decade before the incident occurred.

“I apologize for the shame, the pain, and the disappointment I caused them,” Pyle told Judge Volland in court Friday. “Your honor, I promise to do everything in my power to get to the root of the problem.”

Volland suspended five years of Pyle’s sentence. He must serve 10 years probation when released from prison.

The child is back with her parents.

KTVA 11′s Megan Mazurek contributed to this story.

Two men were indicted Friday for burglarizing the Sand Point post office in December.

On or around Dec. 28, Sheldon Wilson Shuravloff, 21, and Keith Lee Wilson, Jr., 18, allegedly broke into building, damaging the office itself along with some equipment. The damage resulted in the post office closing for a week, preventing residents from receiving their mail, according to a statement from prosecutors.

Both men face up to five years in federal prison, and a $250,000 fine on each of the two counts — one count of conspiracy to commit burglary of a post office, and one count of  burglary of a post office. They may also be required to pay restitution for damages to the post office and post office equipment.

Anchorage police are investigating a shooting after a male with a gunshot wound was pronounced dead at a hospital Sunday evening.

Just after 8:30 p.m., the Anchorage Police Department received a report of a gunshot victim at a business near Lake Otis Parkway and Tudor Road, according to a statement from police. The exact business was not identified. A single police car and yellow barrier tape could be seen near the Walgreens at the intersection near University Area, as of 10:15 p.m.

“Police were told the victim was personally being transported to a nearby hospital. The victim has been pronounced deceased at the hospital,” an APD statement said.

Details remained scarce Sunday evening as police investigated the circumstances of the shooting. Police are asking anyone with information to call APD dispatch at 786-8900.

–This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

A Wasilla man with a felony warrant and a mobile methamphetamine lab was taken into custody after he tried to run from an Alaska State Trooper and fought with the officer, authorities say.

Sunday around 9:20 p.m., AST conducted a traffic stop on a 1999 Subaru Legacy for moving violations. When a trooper tried to stop the car, however, the driver — 29-year-old Jordan Melton — hopped out of the moving Subaru and ran away, according to an online AST dispatch.

“Melton fought the pursuing Trooper, injuring the Trooper before being taken into custody,” the dispatch says.

The trooper was treated at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center for minor injuries.

Melton had an outstanding $25,000 felony warrant for his arrest on one count each of second-, third- and fifth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance as well as five counts of fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, AST said.

He was also found to be in possession of the mobile meth lab and other controlled substances. Melton was remanded at the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility for second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, fourth-degree assault of a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest and for the outstanding warrant. He is being held without bail.

A 14-year-old is in custody after a shooting near the University Area Sunday evening – Anchorage’s first homicide of 2015, police say.

According to witnesses, the victim, 18-year-old Charles Gustav Steinhilpert III, and the 14-year-old suspect planned to meet at a Walgreens, located at the intersection of Lake Otis Parkway and Tudor Road, for a drug deal, according to a statement from Anchorage Police Department spokeswoman Anita Shell.

“During the transaction, the suspect and the victim got into an altercation that ended when the suspect produced a gun and fired it once, striking the victim who was sitting in the vehicle,” Shell wrote.

Friends drove Steinhilpert to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after the shooting.

The suspect, who turned himself in, will be referred to the Division of Juvenile Justice for potential delinquency proceedings, Shell said.

Due to the seriousness of the crime and because the suspect is under 16 years of age, state prosecutors are working with the state’s Division of Juvenile Justice to determine if the youth will be charged as a minor or as an adult.

“We also look at the strength of the case,” said Deputy District Attorney Clint Campion, who adds that it will ultimately be up to a judge to decide.

The judge has to consider different factors, Campion says, including the seriousness of the offense, the juvenile’s prior offenses and whether the suspect has had treatment opportunities before, among others.

The consequences are much different if a person is tried through the Juvenile Justice system.

“So there could be some supervision, there could be some detention, but it’s typically done within the juvenile delinquency system,” Campion said. “And the focus is primary on rehabilitation and making that minor, at least giving the minor, the opportunity to be a productive member of society and someone who is law-abiding.”

Campion says the decision is likely to take more than a few days.

–Editor’s note: Police erroneously said the victim was 16 years old in an earlier release. The story has been updated.

 –This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.