Crime & Courts

Young men sentenced to electronic monitoring, probation for vehicle vandalism spree

Two young men arrested for a vandalism spree in Anchorage last year were sentenced Friday to 90 days of what the judge called "shock incarceration" and three years of probation.

They'll be able to serve the imposed time through electronic monitoring, according to testimony.

Elijah Dutton and Evan Young, both 20, and a 17-year-old told police they decided to smash car windows with a baseball bat for fun, according to the charges. At least 50 vehicles were randomly targeted in five neighborhoods, police said.

Dutton and Young had felony convictions set aside for the length of probation. If they pay the $31,467 owed in restitution and avoid getting in trouble again, their records will not include the typically permanent label of felon.

Assistant District Attorney James Klugman said outside the courtroom he could not comment on the circumstances of the juvenile's case.

"It was really immature of me to do this," Dutton said. "I want to pay back the victims to reassure them it won't happen again."

Young faced two victims who attended court and apologized to them.

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"My actions were immature, thoughtless and stupid," Young said.

The prosecutor said he believed the defendants' actions were unlike their normal behavior but the destruction that took only a few seconds per vehicle affected the victims for months.

The punishment should balance the men's remorse and the need to make the victims whole, Klugman argued.

A suspect-vehicle description led to the group's arrest on March 26, 2014. They originally were charged with 25 felony counts of criminal mischief. Dutton and Young were sentenced on single counts of the offense, the result of plea deals.

Police retrieved an aluminum bat tucked under the rear seat of a dirty silver 2006 Chevrolet Silverado. The bat had glass embedded in it, and there were shards of broken glass on Young's sweatshirt and on the floorboard beneath him, the charges say.

Dutton told the officer who pulled the group over that the idea came from friends, and he described damaging vehicles in the areas of Fairview, Lake Otis Parkway and Northern Lights Boulevard, and near the Old Seward Highway and Dimond Boulevard.

Superior Court Judge Jack Smith said the high number of victims was unusual but suspending the felony convictions was warranted. Felony convictions would damage the men's futures, he said.

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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