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Mainly cloudy with snow showers around this evening. Low 8F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 60%..
Mainly cloudy with snow showers around this evening. Low 8F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 60%.
Two men were arrested Wednesday in connection with a burglary at Northwest Mining.
Timothy Green, owner of Northwest Mining, reported to Alaska State Troopers on Dec. 20 that a 2000 Ford Excursion, a 2017 Ski-Doo Summit 850 snowmachine, a .50 caliber semi-automatic firearm with a scope, a suppressor for the firearm, .50 caliber ammunition, mammoth tusks, a walrus skull and tusks, four Honda generators, and other firearms and ammunition had been taken from his Van Horn Road property, according to court documents filed Wednesday in the Fourth Judicial District.
Charles William Hills, 43, later told troopers that 29-year-old Dametrey Jaymes Rice came to his house on Dec. 20 and said that he “did a job,” charging documents stated. Rice reportedly told Hills that he had acquired a .50 caliber rifle, several firearms, a Ford Excursion, a snowmachine, a mammoth tusk, mining equipment and some generators.
Rice allegedly asked Hills to move the snowmachine to North Pole, and Hills drove the snowmachine on the trans-Alaska pipeline system trail, powerline trails and on Gilmore Trail before he got to snowmachine stuck on Pine Meadows Drive, according to the complaint.
A woman reported to troopers Saturday that a snowmachine had been wrecked in her Pine Meadows Drive yard, charging documents stated.
The snowmachine matched the Ski-Doo Summit 850 snowmachine that was stolen from Northwest Mining. Troopers saw snowmachine tracks along Gilmore Trail to Winch Road, and found a Cadillac Escalade with blue LED lights stuck in the snow on Winch Road.
Hills said that Rice picked him up in the Excursion Saturday and said that the car was “hotter than hell.” The two men went to a gas station and the McDonald’s off the Johansen Expressway. Troopers later found the trash from that trip at the Winch Road home.
Troopers also received a tip Monday that Rice was a suspect in the burglary.
Troopers drove by the Winch Road home Tuesday in an unmarked car in an attempt to locate the stolen property. The same Cadillac Escalade they had seen Saturday left the Winch Road house and came nose to nose with troopers on the one-lane road. Troopers backed up their car to let the Escalade pass, the Escalade stopped, and the driver, who troopers identified as Rice, got out of the car. Rice approached troopers, and troopers drove away. Rice followed troopers to the Steese Highway and drove southbound onto the Steese Highway.
Troopers followed Rice into Fairbanks and stopped Rice at the East Farmers Loop Road transfer site after they saw the Escalade’s taillight was out.
Hills, who was a passenger in the vehicle, and a woman walked away from the car while Rice and another woman stayed in the car. Rice reportedly reset his phone and erased the data during the traffic stop, charging documents stated.
Troopers found a suppressor belonging to Green’s son and a 10mm handgun on the passenger on the floorboard. They also found a .25 caliber handgun in a woman’s purse. The woman said that Rice recently sold her the .25 caliber handgun for $25 in North Pole.
Troopers returned to the Winch Road home and saw the stolen Ford Excursion elevated on a jack and parked next to the house with its hood open.
“It appeared that parts and lights were being stripped off the vehicle, as the catalytic converters and exhaust components had already been removed,” charging documents stated.
Hills told troopers that Rice had asked for a tool to cut off the exhaust components on the Excursion.
Troopers found two magazines loaded with .45 caliber ammunition in the car. Troopers also found a walrus tusk cribbage board, brass bars and several boxes of ammunition.
Rice was charged with felony first-degree burglary, felony first-degree theft, felony first-degree vehicle theft and felony third-degree weapons misconduct.
Hills was charged with felony second-degree theft and felony tampering with physical evidence.
Contact Haley Lehman at 907-459-7575 or by email at hlehman@newsminer.com.
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