Crime & Courts

Burglars thought they were home alone — then the owner showed up

A couple of burglars were inside a home in North Pole on Saturday when the owner came home and they crashed their way out of the garage, Alaska State Troopers say.

The incident happened on Hurst Road in North Pole. The suspects hid their van in the garage as they loaded up their stolen items: construction materials and tools, troopers said. They damaged the home itself, removing copper pipe.

Then the owner came home and saw a light on.

"The suspects inside the residence then got into their van and crashed their way out of the garage in an attempt to flee," the troopers report said. Their van hit the homeowners' vehicle and became disabled, so the suspects ran away, troopers said.

Troopers are investigating the incident. No one has been arrested and no charges have been filed, troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said. More information wasn't immediately available, she said.

Lisa Demer

Lisa Demer was a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch News. Among her many assignments, she spent three years based in Bethel as the newspaper's western Alaska correspondent. She left the ADN in 2018.

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