Public Safety Report - May 2
Published Friday, May 2, 2008
The Public Safety Report is compiled from criminal complaints filed in state and federal courts, as well as some police blotter information, trooper dispatches, fire department reports and interviews with public safety officials. Individuals named as arrested and/or charged with crimes in this report are presumed innocent until proved guilty in a court of law.
Assault
Robert William Vann, 31, of Fairbanks, was charged with fourth-degree assault after he allegedly punched his girlfriend in the head Monday following an argument over alcohol.
DUI
•Joan Elizabeth Leguard, 61, of Fairbanks, was charged with driving under the influence after University of Alaska Fairbanks police pulled her over Tuesday on Thompson Road on suspicion that she was intoxicated. A chemical test found her breath-alcohol content to be 0.173, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 to operate a motor vehicle.
• Marie Thies, 21, of Fairbanks was charged with drunken driving early Friday morning after a Fairbanks police officer observed her leaving a local bar. According to a criminal complaint, the officer watched Thies walk out of Baraccuda Beach Bar on Cushman Street at 2:05 a.m. She was staggering and fumbling with a set of keys as she walked to a Ford Explorer.
Thies walked back into the bar when she noticed the officer’s patrol car sitting in the parking lot. Ten minutes later, Thies exited the bar again and got into the passenger’s side of the vehicle. When the SUV pulled onto 14th Avenue and the driver stopped in the roadway to talk to two people, the officer initiated a stop. Thies, who was sitting in the passenger seat when the officer contacted her, said she was just moving the car to another parking spot. Thies failed field sobriety tests and registered a 0.198 on a chemical breath test, more than twice the legal limit.
• Steven Patrick More, 31, of Fairbanks was arrested and charged with drunken driving on Thursday after being stopped by a Fairbanks police officer performing stop sign enforcement.
According to a criminal complaint, More rolled through a stop sign at 19th Avenue at 11:41 a.m. Upon contact with More, the officer noted he had glassy eyes and the odor of alcohol on his breath. More admitted he was coming from the Midnite Mine bar and had consumed one rum and coke before driving. He failed field sobriety tests and recorded a breath-alcohol content of 0.111 on a chemical test.
Failure to register
Jason Paul, 42, of Nenana, was charged with failure to register as a sex offender after a check of the state’s sex offender registry by Alaska State Troopers found him out of compliance. Alaska State Troopers contacted Paul on Monday after he was walking down a Nenana Street “highly intoxicated,” according to a criminal complaint filed in court.
Forgery
A Fairbanks woman allegedly forged two checks to buy crack cocaine.
Laura L. Polson, 40, of Fairbanks, has been charged with second-degree forgery, third-degree theft and attempted third-degree theft.
A couple contacted Fairbanks police in February to report that someone had cashed one of their checks for $400 and attempted to cash a second check, which didn’t clear. Investigation led police to Polson who admitted taking the checks to buy drugs, according to a criminal complaint filed in court.
Moose versus pickup
A moose was killed in a collision with a pickup truck at Mile 1420 of the Alaska Highway on Thursday morning but the driver of the pickup was not injured.
Stephen Augustin, 23, of Delta Junction was traveling south on the highway in a 1990 pickup when he hit the moose, which was salvaged by a local charity. Augustin was wearing a seat belt.
Multiple charges
A North Pole woman was able to slip out of her handcuffs and allegedly took a swing at a police officer Tuesday.
Diana Lynne Thompson, 44, has been charged with driving under the influence, fourth-degree assault and refusal to submit to a chemical test.
The incident occurred at the North Pole police station after Thompson was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after being pulled over on Santa Claus Lane. Police were observing Thompson for the required 15 minutes before a Datamaster test when she was able to get out of the handcuffs.
Officers restrained her and she was taken to Fairbanks Correctional Center without further incident, according to a criminal complaint filed in court.
Vehicle collision
Three people were taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital following an accident early Wednesday morning on Badger Road in North Pole.
A Dodge pickup truck was following a school bus near Topaz Avenue when the bus slowed to pass a trooper responding to another collision on the road.
The truck rearended the bus and was knocked into oncoming traffic and a 1994 Honda Civic driven by Christal Mann, 33, of Fairbanks.
The North Star Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene, and transported Mann, as well as two of her passengers to the hospital.
The Civic was declared a total loss. The pickup truck sustained $3,000 worth of damage and damage to the school bus was estimated at $1,000.
Vehicle theft
A Fairbanks man has been charged with stealing his pickup truck from the city impound lot.
Jonathan Millington-Walton, 24, allegedly took his 1987 GMC pickup from the city impound lot on Thursday morning after finding out it was scheduled to be auctioned off two days later.
The city’s impound director notified police at 8:20 a.m. after Millington-Walton drove off in the vehicle.
Police located the vehicle the next day parked behind a residence on Clay Street.
Both license plates were missing but an officer recognized the truck from the impound lot.
Police contacted a man living at the residence, who told them that Millington-Walton asked to store the vehicle at his house.
He also provided police with Millington-Walton’s workplace. Police contacted him during work and he admitted he took the truck.
The truck was sold on Saturday. Millington-Walton was charged with first-degree vehicle theft, a felony.
— Chris Freiberg and Tim Mowry