Crime & Justice

Valley man charged with power theft, operating commercial marijuana grow

A complaint from the Mat-Su electric cooperative led police to a commercial marijuana grow in the Valley on Thursday, according to court documents filed Thursday.

Trooper Nasruk Nay wrote in a sworn affidavit filed with charging documents that troopers responded to the home of 37-year-old Kevin Mielke on East Yadon Drive near Wasilla after the Matanuska Electric Association reported someone stole power from them.

MEA had received a tip about the theft and discovered someone had tapped directly -- and illegally -- into a service line and calculated they stole $1,280.61 worth of power between mid-November and Sunday, Nay wrote.

Mielke didn't answer the door Thursday when troopers came with a search warrant, so troopers forced it open after about 30 minutes and found him "hiding behind marijuana plants in a grow room," the affidavit says. They also found Mielke apparently in the process of cooking crack cocaine when troopers interrupted him.

Troopers found 235 live plants in various stages of growth and more than 54 grams of processed marijuana, as well as equipment including grow lights, fans and timers, according to the document.

Mielke was charged with a felony count of second-degree theft -- for the power he's accused of stealing -- and five felony counts of third- and fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance.

He was jailed at Mat-Su Pretrial Facility on $10,000 bail and scheduled for his first court appearance Friday afternoon, troopers said.

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