A suspected robber stole a loaded gun from a Wasilla homeowner Sunday afternoon and then turned the gun on the man before fleeing in stolen clothes to a nearby house, Alaska State Troopers said.
Matthew R. Jones, 26, was arrested on felony robbery, burglary, theft, assault and evidence tampering charges in connection to the home invasion, according to court documents. No one was injured during the incident.
The West Wintergreen Drive homeowner told dispatchers that he chased Jones out of his house at about 4 p.m. after noticing an unlocked door, according to an affidavit filed at Palmer District Court by Trooper Andrew Gault. Then Jones pointed the homeowner's stolen .44-caliber revolver at him and told him to stop, the affidavit said. Jones was wearing the homeowner's stolen tan coat and pants. He ran off, the affidavit said.
Troopers and Wasilla police tracked Jones to a home on Smalley Circle, it said. A resident there went in to use the phone and quickly returned and told them Jones was inside, and that he had burglarized the home a week or two earlier by entering a screen door. She'd "advised him not to come back" at the time, Gault wrote.
The woman said Jones was hiding inside a utility room wall, the affidavit said. She also said Jones told her "he had done a bad thing and not to let law enforcement into the residence."
Troopers and police contacted Jones as he left the house. He told them he'd gone to the Wintergreen house to sleep and had stolen the gun as well as some items from a shed and a bicycle later valued at $1,000, according to the affidavit.
Troopers recovered the stolen gun from the basement of the Smalley Circle house where Jones put it, the affidavit said.
A judge on Monday set bail for Jones at $20,000 with court-appointed third party custodian, according to a state courts database.
Reach Zaz Hollander at zhollander@adn.com or 257-4317.
By ZAZ HOLLANDER