Anchorage Daily News

WASILLA -- Palmer police last year handled a total of 15 cases of sexual abuse against minors. By February investigators were already working eight new cases.

Police say the spike was part of a larger trend in Palmer: increasing numbers of more serious crimes, such as burglaries and assaults. The one statistic that's down in Palmer is traffic tickets, probably because busy officers can't spare as much attention for the city's fairly notorious road patrols.

"There are more thefts, drug-related cases -- things are just taking more time," said Palmer police Commander Tom Remaley.

The numbers aren't huge. According to police statistics, the number of arrests through April of this year compared to the same period in 2008 is up by 20 from 233 last year to 253 this year. Traffic tickets, however, are down significantly in the last few years, from 3,247 in 2007 to 2,823 in 2008.

Some of the arrest increase is due to Palmer's presence with several other law enforcement agencies in cooperative road patrols, adding, for example, DUI arrests onto Palmer's books that otherwise would have gone to other agencies.

Still, police say, the trend is real. Wasilla police are seeing a similar increase in more serious crimes there, mostly linked to drugs.

Methamphetamine abuse has given way to heroin and prescription drug crimes around the Mat-Su. Drug abuse tends to lead to home burglaries, police say. Users steal cash or items to pawn for cash, all to buy more drugs.

"Drug abuse really fuels the property crime issue," said Wasilla's acting chief, Craig Robinson. "They go hand in hand."

City administrators are crunching crime statistics now, so no data was available from Wasilla.

In general, Remaley said, he's seen more serious crimes increasing over the last three years. People like to blame the economy, but the trend started before the current downturn, he said. Some of the people arrested are from outside Palmer, but many are locals, so it's not like there's a new influx of outsiders threatening the city, he said.

Two Palmer men were charged in one of the sex abuse of a minor cases.

A Palmer grand jury in February indicted 22-year-old Nicholas Nickoli and 18-year-old Derek Burkett of three counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor.

A 13-year-old Big Lake girl told Palmer police Detective Sgt. Kelly Turney that the men paid for a cab ride to Palmer, and they all drank beer at Burkett's house, according to court documents.

She told her mother they had sex with her, Turney stated in an affidavit he filed in the case. The men knew the girl's age, the mother told officers.

Turney said he basically spent all his time from December through early March on cases involving sex abuse of minors. The young victims range in age from 5 to 16, Turney said. He's made three arrests so far, including Nickoli and Burkett. Two cases were closed. Three more remain open.

Last month Palmer's lone detective turned his attention to a string of break-ins. A 23-year-old Wasilla man was arrested earlier this month for burglaries at Palmer's Bishop's Attic and Fireside Books. The man, Rueben Fielder, also told police he was involved in numerous other burglaries around Palmer and Wasilla.

Meanwhile despite the rise in more serious arrests, Palmer police will still be on the lookout for speeders and equipment violations, Remaley said.

Officers drove nearly 108,000 miles last year on road patrols, he said, "all in an effort to decrease traffic accidents, which we never seem able to do."

Find Zaz Hollander online at adn.com/contact/zhollander or call 352-6711.

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