Two Homer brothers have pleaded guilty to harassing a 17-year-old boy passed out at a party in September 2012.

The Homer News (http://bit.ly/1wNEuSx) reports 22-year-old Anthony Resetarits and 20-year-old Joseph Resetarits entered pleas Thursday.

Anthony Resetarits also pleaded guilty to evidence tampering, hindering prosecution and contributing to the delinquency of his younger brother.

He was sentenced to 120 hours of community work service, 40 months of probation and 70 days of jail.

Joseph Resetarits was sentenced to 80 hours of community service and five months of probation.

Prosecutor Paul Miovas says people attending the party wrote on the victim with markers and the harassment escalated to shaving his eyebrows and head, pulling down his clothes and sexually assaulting him.

Anthony Resetarits’ attorney says allegations of sexual offenses were untrue.

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Information from: The Homer (Alaska) News, http://www.homernews.com

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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

A vehicle with three people inside crashed through the door of a Subway restaurant on Business Boulevard in Eagle River at about 5 p.m. on Sunday.

According to the Anchorage Police Department, the car went as far as half of its body length into the store, breaking the store’s main door and the window next to it. No one inside the restaurant was injured in the incident.

APD says the driver will be charged with reckless driving and disorderly conduct. Athough the driver of the vehicle did pass a field sobriety test, an investigating officer says he believes that the driver was under the influence of marijuana.

The officer says he wants to send a message to people that are using marijuana under the state’s new legislation.

“If you choose to consume, please treat it like alcohol and don’t drive,” he says, adding that a designated driver is best.

A worker at the Subway restaurant says crews have been able to clear most of the damage and have boarded the door and window. The store expects to re-open after the debris is cleared.

This is an ongoing story. Please check back for updates.

Shannon Ballard | KTVA

Updated Monday, March 16 at 11:30 a.m.

A 27-year-old man has been charged with murder in connection with an early morning homicide in Spenard that left one man dead.

At 2:21 a.m. Monday, APD responded to a trailer on the 2400 block of McRae Road. There they found a 56-year-old male victim, who was taken to a local hospital with a life-threatening stab wound to the upper chest, according to court documents.

The man was pronounced dead at approximately 4 a.m., police said. Eric Carlson, 27, and two females — who all lived in the trailer — were taken to APD headquarters for questioning.

According to police, witnesses reported Carlson “grabbed a large knife and stabbed his roommate with it.” One of the women also living in the home, who called 911 to report the stabbing, told APD she was the victim’s girlfriend and they had lived together for about 3 years.

The woman went on to explain the events of the incident, saying that the four individuals “were drinking, watched a movie and ate dinner together,” court documents say. The woman and the victim fell asleep on the couch. She told police he “got up from the couch to use the bathroom and that she did not wake up again until the victim came into the living room saying he was stabbed.” The woman told APD she then saw Carlson walk into the kitchen and put a knife into the wood block, according to court documents — an incident the second woman in the house also remembers.

Carlson told police he and the others in the house drank one 40 ounce beer, 10 shooters and seven beers. According to court documents, Carlson admitted to stabbing the victim after he “said a smart remark,” court documents say. He then “cleaned the knife and put it back in the kitchen.”

Carlson was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree murder and taken to the Anchorage Correctional Complex, where he is being held without bail.

There have been eight homicides in the municipality this year, according to APD spokeswoman Anita Shell.

–Check back for updates on this developing story. 

A man’s attempt to purchase a firearm in Soldotna led Alaska State Troopers to recover a stolen weapon, drugs and drug paraphernalia Friday.

Troopers were tipped off to a potential stolen firearm after a man hoping to purchase it “got a weird vibe” and reported the serial number to AST, according to trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters. The serial number matched that of a Sig Sauer .45 pistol reported stolen in an Anchorage Police Department case.

A warrant was issued for the residence where the gun was last seen — a home on Saint Joseph Street in Soldotna — and served Friday at 9:45 p.m. Along with the firearm, troopers with the Soldotna Patrol and Statewide Drug Enforcement Units found roughly 12.1 grams of methamphetamine, 2.4 grams of heroin, $2,304 in cash and assorted drug paraphernalia, including scales and bags.

The estimated street value of the drugs was roughly $2,400 for the meth and $1,200 for the heroin, according to Peters.

Joseph Lantz, Breanna Wright and Patricia Barnes were all arrested at the home without incident. Lantz was charged with third-degree misconduct involving controlled substances, second-degree theft and fourth-degree possession of a controlled substance. Wright faces charges of fifth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance and fourth-degree possession of a controlled substance. Barnes faces charges of second-degree manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance, third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance and violating conditions of release.

The trio was taken to the Wildwood Pretrial Facility and held without bail pending their arraignments. Peters says Lantz faces an additional charge of first-degree promoting contraband for heroin found on him during his intake at the jail.

An Alaska State Trooper required medical treatment after a fight with a Chugiak soldier in Wasilla, who resisted arrest after showing up for drill drunk Saturday, according to a trooper dispatch.

Troopers received multiple complaints Saturday from others at the Alcantro Armory in Wasilla that a soldier had arrived “intoxicated and he had a smell of alcohol on him,” troopers wrote.

Isaac Marmor, 27, was met on scene and was found to have driven himself to the armory while intoxicated, after troopers conducted a field sobriety test. Troopers attempted to place him under arrest, but Marmor resisted. A fight ensued, leaving one of the troopers complaining of a shoulder injury, court documents say. He was taken to Mat-Su Regional Hospital.

Marmor was taken into custody and faces charges of fourth-degree assault, driving under the influence, resisting arrest and fourth-degree criminal mischief. Troopers say he was taken to the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility and is being held on $5,000 bail.

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

Anchorage police say there has, without a doubt, been an increase in violent crime at the beginning of 2015. There were four homicides in January, two in February and two more, so far, in March. Plus, there have been dozens of reported shootings.

The Anchorage Police Department’s new violent crime task force has been busy tracking trends and arresting suspects. Deputy police chief Myron Fanning joined Mayor Dan Sullivan for the task force’s first progress report.

“What’s changed? I think we’ve taken a lot of violent criminals off the street already,” said Fanning.

Sullivan says a spike in crime doesn’t mean Anchorage is a dangerous place to live. He says, it’s just that — a spike.

“When we saw this spike, we wanted to make sure, through the task, that this is not something insidious or a huge gang-related problem,” said Sullivan. “And so far, it doesn’t look like that’s the case.”

Except for the double-murder at an East Anchorage apartment complex, Fanning says the task force has solved all of this year’s homicides. The force has also made 26 arrests and seized 40 illegally owned guns.

Fanning says most shootings this year have been alcohol- or- drug-related.

The new task force has seized 284 grams of meth, 42 grams of heroin and a considerable amount of marijuana.

“Eventually, it will slow down, because we will arrest all the people we think are responsible for the violent crime spike,” Fanning said. “But right now, our numbers are staying pretty high.”

The task force is still working to figure out what factors caused the surge in the first place.

“Once we see that we are comfortable with the numbers where they’re at and we no longer have a spike, then we’ll probably disband the task force,” Fanning said.

But for now, Fanning says there is still work to do to make Anchorage safer for all who call the area home.

Two men pleaded guilty and were sentenced Tuesday for crimes relating to a woman’s 2012 death in Anchorage.

Judge Michael Wolverton sentenced Jesse Hess, 33, to four years in prison for coercion and misconduct involving a corpse. George Thomas, 59, was sentenced to 15 years for second-degree sexual assault, according to a prepared statement from the state Department of Law.

Both men were arrested in December 2012 for their involvement with the woman on the night of Nov. 30, 2012. According to the DOL, Hess called 911 and said a woman was dead in his bed. An investigation revealed alcohol poisoning was the likely cause of death.

Thomas was convicted of sexually assaulting the woman while she was unconscious. He will have to register as a sex offender when he is released from prison.

This is a developing story, please check back for updates.

A Kenai man was arrested Tuesday after he led troopers on a chase for several miles around the Kenai area.

At around 3:45 p.m., Alaska State Troopers attempted to stop a Dodge sedan for passing into a no-passing zone on Kalifornsky Beach Road. When the driver — identified as 55-year-old Lawrence Karella — failed to stop, he then drove recklessly in an attempt to elude troopers and officers from the Kenai Police Department, according to an online AST dispatch.

“AST was able to deploy a spike strip at Bridge Access at the Kenai River bridge causing several tires to deflate,” the dispatch states, adding that the vehicle finally came to a stop once the tires were flattened.

Karella was arrested for failure to stop for a peace officer, reckless driving and reckless endangerment. He was taken to the Wildwood Pre-Trial Facility and held without bail.

Troopers say Karella was also wanted on two outstanding warrants for a hit-and-run and tampering with physical evidence.

A former Fort Wainwright provost marshal and Alaska State Trooper has reached a plea deal with prosecutors in a sexual abuse of a minor case.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://bit.ly/1Ct1MzQ) reports a change of plea hearing is scheduled for April 7 for 76-year-old Warren Tanner.

The retired trooper was commander of the Fairbanks detachment from 1997 until he retired in 1999.

He was charged last year with six counts of sexual abuse of a minor. Prosecutors say he began inappropriately touching a girl when she was 3 or 4 years old and that she was 14 when the abuse was discovered.

Tanner was arrested in February 2014.

District Attorney Mike Gray says he anticipates Tanner will be sentenced to 40 years in prison. Tanner remains free on $35,000 bail.

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

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

A group of six local business owners convicted of tax evasion were ordered Wednesday to pay more than $2 million, in total, to the Municipality of Anchorage, according to a statement from the Department of Law.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon L. Gleason sentenced 44-year-old Michael Butler, 52-year-old Sun Sims, 57-year-old Kyong Hee Kim, 60-year-old Jae Ho Lee, 62-year-old Jae Gak Lee and 60-year-old Jerry Lee for their roles in a conspiracy to defraud the Municipality of Anchorage of payment from the local cigarette excise tax. Gleason also ordered each individual in the group to pay the muni in restitution, which totaled more than $2 million.

Anchorage has seen eight homicides so far in 2015. There were a total of 14 homicides in 2014, and 16 in both 2013 and 2012. All of those resulted in investigations and in many cases arrests. But how long does it take to get those suspected of homicide through the court system?

The journey from the initial arrest to the day the first juror is interviewed for a trial can take years. Deputy District Attorney Clint Campion says for a victim’s family, that can seem like a lifetime.

“A lot of victims are hopeful that throughout the trial process there will be some level of closure,” Campion said. “A lot of times that’s true, but not always.”

Campion says the victims’ families find themselves forced into a world they never expected.

“What we owe them is communication about the process, and why things take as long as they do,” Campion said.

In the case of the Jan. 25 shooting death in a Walgreens parking lot, police made arrests within two weeks. Still, the investigation was in its early stages. Prosecutors say arrests are often just the beginning.

“Lots of follow up leads need to be looked into. The forensic evidence needs to be analyzed and stuff like that,” Campion said.

That process can take months. Reports have to be written by patrol officers, detectives, crime scene investigators and the medical examiner’s office. Those get turned over to the prosecution so they can build their case. At the same time, new crimes are being committed almost every day and need attention as well.

“I often tell people that practicing in a prosecutor’s office is kind of like an emergency room where we’re doing triage everyday,” Campion said.

Once the prosecution is ready, they turn over all that information to defense attorneys for review.

“You’re going to have thousands of hours of police work on a case, hundreds of hours of experts — both forensic and otherwise — who’ve reviewed and evaluated the case,” said defense attorney James Christie.

Christie says the defense’s investigation can be time consuming as well.

“Both sides are supposed to have enough time to adequately present their case and do a good job, and that’s going to maximize the odds that justice is really done by a jury,” Christie said.

Christie says one of the biggest challenges in getting a case to trial is getting all of the players involved to be available at the same time. Attorneys, judges and witnesses all need to be available at the same time for three weeks or more.

“In some cases you have witnesses who may scatter to the four corners of the earth in the time it takes to prepare for trial,” Christie said.

Once in the courtroom, an average murder trail will take about a month. If the suspect is found guilty, it’s another three to four months — or longer — until a sentencing hearing is scheduled.

A former East High School lifeguard was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to possessing and distributing child pornography.

Jonathan Sabet, 23, was sentenced to four years in prison with two suspended, and must be registered as a sex offender for 15 years following his release, according to Assistant Attorney General with the Office of Special Prosecutions Adam Alexander.

Sabet was arrested and indicted in August on four counts of child pornography distribution and one count of child pornography possession. He pleaded guilty to all charges in October, and stated a desire at his sentencing to undergo rehabilitation, according to Alexander.

This is a developing story, please check back for updates.

James Brooks | Creative Commons

A Kodiak man was indicted by a federal grand jury Friday for allegedly assaulting a civilian while on a U.S. Coast Guard base.

Michael, Ensley, 55, was faces one count of unlawfully entering Coast Guard property and one count of assault. Ensley was arrested Feb. 19.

According to an Alaska State Trooper dispatch, Coast Guard police issued a call for assistance with an assault involving a civilian on Kodiak’s Coast Guard base. The victim was allegedly severely injured by Ensley, who was located by Coast Guard police and taken into custody by troopers.

Ensley was held at the Kodiak City Jail, but was transferred to Anchorage for his indictment.

This is a developing story, please check back for updates.

Anchorage police responded to a shooting and a stabbing in the overnight hours between Friday and Saturday. Both were alcohol-related, according to a release from the Anchorage Police Department.

16-year-old shot in midtown Anchorage area

Just after midnight, Anchorage police received a call that a 16-year-old was dropped off at a local hospital’s emergency room with a gunshot wound to the thigh.

It was reported to police that the juvenile was accidently shot by another juvenile, age 14, at a residence in the midtown Anchorage area.

When police went to the residence, located on the 1300 block of Chirikof Court, they learned that the two friends had been drinking alcohol at the home.

“One of the juveniles was playing around with a gun when it went off and the other juvenile was struck in the leg by a bullet,” APD says.

The 14-year-old was charged with fourth-degree weapons misconduct and second-degree assault, among other charges, and was transported to McLaughlin Youth Center.

1 female stabbed in altercation at East Anchorage trailer park

Around 6 a.m., Anchorage police responded to a report of a stabbing at a trailer located on the 3200 block of Penland Parkway.

When officers arrived, they found a female — identified as 32-year-old Margaret Mary Tarrant — “bleeding from her backside,” APD says. Tarrant also smelled strongly of alcohol, police say.

“It was reported to police that Tarrant had gotten into a physical altercation with another adult female inside of the residence,” the release from APD says. “During the altercation, the adult female struck Tarrant with a knife in self-defense.”

Upon further investigation, APD arrested Tarrant and charged her with two counts of fourth-degree assault.

A Wasilla teenager has pleaded guilty to the death of his father in February 2013, Alaska State Troopers say.

On Feb. 26, 2013, troopers were notified that then-16-year-old William Robinson, Jr. had shot and killed his father, William Robinson, at their Wasilla home. Both troopers and the Palmer branch of the Alaska Bureau of Investigation’s Major Crimes Unit responded to the scene.

According to court documents, the younger Robinson woke up to the sound of his parents arguing in the middle of the night. Nicole Robinson, the victim’s wife, reported that they both threatened to shoot the other after her husband began accusing her of stealing his prescription medication.

The teenaged Robinson grabbed a pistol, but did not immediately fire it. Court documents say that he fired only when his father began to yell at him, emptying the gun of all six bullets.

The elder Robinson was pronounced dead at the scene, troopers said.

Later that day, Robinson, now 18, was arrested and charged as an adult for first- and second-degree murder, troopers say.

Monday, Robinson pleaded guilty to one count of criminally negligent homicide, according to troopers. Palmer Assistant District Attorney Eric Senta, the prosecutor in the case, says the lesser charge was based on Robinson’s lack of criminal history and “evidence of domestic violence in the household before the shooting.”

“Factors which influenced the charge bargain in this tragic case included defendant’s age and lack of criminal history, suppression of the defendant’s confession by Judge [Kari] Kristiansen and evidence of domestic violence in the household before the shooting,” Senta said in an email. “Robinson will be sentenced as an adult in Palmer Superior Court, but there is no agreement as to what the actual sentence will be. Criminally Negligent Homicide is a Class B felony in Alaska, which carries a minimum sentence of one year and a maximum sentence of 10 years.”

His sentencing is scheduled for November.

Courtesy Google Earth

An Anchorage man was convicted Monday on two charges in a case centered on multiple trips to Cambodia, where he engaged in sexual activities with young girls and recorded them.

Jason Jayavarman was convicted by a federal jury on a single count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and a single count of attempted travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Audrey Renschen.

Jayavarman, the owner and operator of Jason’s International Youth Hostel, was arrested in August of 2013. His arrest followed an undercover investigation initiated by a “concerned citizen’s anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers,” according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Beginning in 2013, an undercover FBI investigator began acting as if he “and a couple of his friends wanted to travel to Cambodia” and asked “how to get a child in Cambodia and if he could arrange for a child to be delivered to him and his friends,” according to court documents. During this time, the FBI investigator had several conversations with Jayavarman — in person and over the phone — about Jayavarman’s trips to Cambodia between 2009 and 2013. He and the investigator discussed Jayavarman’s engagement in sexual activities with girls as young as 12 years old, with each encounter recorded in video and still image format. He also gave the undercover investigator tips on how to transport illicit footage between Cambodia and Alaska.

Following his 2013 arrest, Jayavarman waived his Miranda rights and confessed to many sexual encounters with at least one young girl on his trips, defending his actions by stating “it is cultural” in Cambodia, according to court documents.

FBI agents were able to obtain a search warrant for his residence — listed as the same address as the youth hostel. Authorities seized 14 SD cards, six computers and two cameras — as well as other storage device. The FBI also found “numerous homemade videos,” which corresponded with Jayavarman’s confessions before and after his arrest, court documents say. Further evidence supported claims by Jayavarman — prior to his arrest — that he planned another trip for Aug. 21, 2013.

Jayavarman was indicted in August 2013 on six charges. The charges in the first indictment are part of a closed case, according to court records. He was indicted again in September 2013 on two charges, both of which the jury found him guilty of on March 23, 2015.

Former Anchorage radio DJ James Laplante — also known as Jimmy O’Brien — appeared in court Monday.

Laplante was originally charged in December with multiple counts related to child pornography. Monday, he agreed to plead guilty to one consolidated count of distribution of child pornography.

The Anchorage Police Department said they started investigating Laplante’s online activity after Instagram reportedly found 13 images involving the sexual exploitation of children on his account. In a second instance, an image flagged by Google was linked to an IP address at his former place of employment. APD searched his home and office, finding more than 1,000 images of child exploitation.

By pleading guilty, Laplante will face two to 12 years in prison, followed by a minimum of five years of supervised probation. He will also be required to register as a sex offender for 15 years after his release.

Laplante’s sentencing is scheduled for July 23.

A man was arrested after an investigation into a commercial marijuana grow operation near Fairbanks revealed over 130 marijuana plants.

Initiated by the Fairbanks Statewide Drug Enforcement Unit, the investigation started after authorities received word that a home along Chena Hot Spring Road had a “heavy marijuana odor,” according to an online dispatch from Alaska State Troopers.

Troopers with the unit knocked on the door of the home at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday and were able to confirm that the odor came from the residence.

A search warrant was granted to the SDEU, who found “139 marijuana plants in different stages of growth along with other growing equipment,” as well as 12 ounces of processed marijuana, according to the dispatch. The total value of the marijuana seized by troopers was roughly $64,000.

Their investigation revealed no one was living in the home, but that it had been converted for the grow operation. In 2010, authorities seized 255 marijuana plants at the same location, troopers said.

Shannon Breuer, 36, was in the home when the warrant was served and arrested on three counts of fourth-degree misconduct involving controlled substances. He was taken to the Fairbanks Correctional Center prior to her arraignment.

Correction: An earlier version of this story listed Shannon Breuer as a woman. The story has been corrected.

A 17-year-old who involved a friend in a drug deal in January has been charged with manslaughter — after that friend was shot and killed, charging documents say.

Just after 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 25, Anchorage police received reports of a shooting at the Walgreens, located at the intersection of Lake Otis Parkway and Tudor Road. The shooting, Anchorage’s first homicide of 2015, was a drug deal gone bad, police say.

The 17-year-old, identified in charging documents as Owen Morgan Olrun, admitted to police that he intended to sell three ounces of marijuana in the Walgreens parking lot. He called someone — identified as “R.K.” — “and asked him for a ride to help sell it.” The victim, 18-year-old Charles Gustav Steinhilpert III, was also in the vehicle.

Olrun told detectives that “everyone in the vehicle was aware of the deal,” charging documents say.

A 14-year-old, who police have named as the suspect in the fatal shooting, met them at the Walgreens for the drug deal, charging documents say. Police say the 14-year-old allegedly shot and killed Steinhilpert after the intended buyers tried to steal the drugs.

Along with one count of manslaughter, Olrun has also been charged with fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance and one count of tampering with physical evidence.

Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training, (ALERRT) is a program designed to train police officers in how to effectively respond to incidents involving an active shooter. The program was created in 2002 and since then has trained more than 60,000 law enforcement professionals across the country.

This week, the program came to Alaska.

In March 2013, the FBI made ALERRT the national standard of training for their agents. Special Agent Samuel Benson decided to bring the training to Anchorage to help better prepare the state for mass casualty shootings, like the Columbine, Sandy Hook and Fort Hood massacres.

“It’s a phenomenon that’s here in the United States,” said Benson. “It’s continuing to grow, it’s continuing to evolve, so I feel that we as police officers, if we are not evolving and growing with our own training model, then that puts us behind the curve.”

During the five-day training program, representatives from 16 different police Alaska departments will be participating in intense training exercises. In all, 22 officers have entered the program and will be certified to train others as well.

On Wednesday, officers donned their protective gear and ran through scenarios they might encounter while out in the field. Run-throughs included hostage situations, homicides in progress and mass shootings.

“This is just one of those tactics that, I think, is extremely flexible and it’s extremely useful,” said Benson.

ALERRT Trainer Brian White says in active shooter situations, the long-standing procedure had been for patrol officers and first responders to secure the area and wait for SWAT personnel to arrive. They were never instructed to go into the building to seek out suspects.

Realizing people were dying, ALERRT’s founders set out to give non-SWAT officers the tools necessary to neutralize the situation.

“If we get a call to an active shooter and we actively hear people dying, as a duty, we are to go in and alleviate the threat,” said White.

Trainers say it isn’t possible to predict how a critical situation will play out, or when and where it will happen.

“What is possible is to give these guys the tools necessary to think through their own issues, their own problems so that they can ultimately be successful,” said Benson.