Crime

The Unalaska Department of Public Safety has found a contraband weapons left in its jail.

Police made the discovery Saturday, following the transfer of four inmates to other facilities. According to Deputy Chief Mike Holman, the two weapons were crudely made, but still deadly.

“One of them was a pen that had paper wrapped around it that had been moistened. As it dries, it hardens, so it stiffens the pen up. The pen had then been scratched so it had a sharpened edge,” says Holman. “The second one was made with strictly magazine paper.”

A 12-year-old case of mistaken identities is in the process of being resolved.

Last week, the Unalaska Department of Public Safety received a call from a Colorado man saying that his identity had been stolen by an Unalaska resident. When police ran a records check, they discovered that an undocumented immigrant had been arrested under his name for stealing a vehicle and driving while intoxicated in Unalaska in 2000.

The U.S. Attorney’s office is recommending a reduced sentence for Arne Fuglvog.

The former fisheries aide to Sen. Lisa Murkowski pleaded guilty in August to falsifying records for his sablefish catch in 2005.

That year, illegal fishing earned Fuglvog an estimated $100,000. Court documents estimate the total value of Fuglvog’s illegal harvests between 2001 and 2006 at $1 million.

The terms of Fuglvog’s plea agreement included a $50,000 punitive fine, a $100,000 community service payment and a public apology in National Fisherman’s Magazine.

Unalaska police say a Juneau man turned himself in over the weekend after being charged with drug possession.

44-year old Robert A- Biddinger was named in a 22-count indictment handed up by a Juneau grand jury on Friday. A 5-thousand dollar warrant was issued for his arrest.  He turned himself in to Unalaska police Saturday evening.

All 22-counts are for felony misconduct involving a controlled substance. Identical charges of 22-felony counts were also filed against 29-year old Donya Owens.

Prosecutors allege that Biddinger and Owens obtained controlled substances by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception, or subterfuge.

A 32-year-old man is being extradited from Unalaska to California on outstanding burglary charges.

Steven Brown, age 32, was on the F/V Glacier Bay when he was apprehended on Thursday night, after the Unalaska Department of Public Safety received information from an investigator that Brown was a “fugitive from justice” and that there was a warrant out for his arrest. The warrant does not provide any information on the nature of the burglary, but it did state that Brown had failed to appear before the State of California’s court system on this charge.

According to Sgt. Mike Holman, extraditions like this aren’t exactly common because of a rather unusual reason.

A 30-year-old crewmember from the longliner F/V Beauty Bay was arraigned in Unalaska yesterday on charges of criminal impersonation, forgery, and working as an illegal immigrant.

Omar Ivan Villanueva is a Mexican national.  He was using the social security number and other identifying information of a Texas man to establish work eligibility in the United States.

When the Texan filed for unemployment benefits he was informed that he was ineligible because he was employed on a fishing vessel in Alaska.  The man contacted the Alaska State Troopers, who arrested Villanueva when the Beauty Bay pulled into port.

Alaska state law specifically prohibits illegal immigrants from working on commercial fishing vessels.  

The Unalaska Department of Public Safety is conducting an internal investigation after learning that drugs had gone missing from one of the city’s ambulances.

The discovery was made in October. According to Director Jamie Sunderland, multiple vials of controlled medications, including morphine, are believed to have been taken from a locked safe. The ambulance and the medication safe are kept at the fire hall, and only licensed responders have regular access to them.

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration is also looking into the matter. Sunderland adds that the assistance is welcome given the type of drugs taken, the licenses involved, and the internal component. The DEA is also conducting a second, unrelated drug investigation in Unalaska concurrently.

A burglary at the Safeway complex may have a bigger price-tag than just the stolen goods.

Police are currently investigating a break-in that place sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning in the building next to the supermarket. According to Sgt. Bill Simms with the Unalaska Department of Public Safety, the robber flung a rock through the window of what used to be the old Alaska Ship Supply liquor store, entered the space, and took over $500 worth of tools. In the process, the perpetrator also caused about $4,000 worth of damage to the building.

No arrests have been made, and no suspects have been identified.

What should you do with a pirate ship?  Scuttle it!

At least according to legislation introduced yesterday by Senator Mark Begich and Representative Don Young.  The proposed bill gives the federal government authority to get rid of illegal fishing vessels in several ways, including sinking.

The bill follows the seizure earlier this year of the stateless high-seas drift-netter Bangun Perkasa 2600 miles southwest of Kodiak.  During that incident, Begich called on the Coast Guard to use the vessel for target practice, but they declined, citing jurisdiction and environmental concerns.

Thirty tons of squid and fifty-four sharks found on board the stateless high-seas drift-netter Bangun Perkasa have been sold to Westward Seafoods.

NOAA spokesperson Julie Speegle says the squid will be used as bait fish and the shark will be ground into fish feed.  NOAA scientists took tissue samples from the sharks to determine species before auctioning them off.

Pending a decision on how to dispose of the vessel, it remains at the Magone Marine dock in Unalaska.

The crewmembers and captain of the vessel are being deported to their countries of origin.  The Taiwanese captain is expected to face charges, but the crew is not.

A 41-year-old man has been charged with vehicle theft and driving under the influence. Danny Gonzales of Mansfield, Massachusetts was arrested around 3:30am on Sunday, after allegedly driving a Grand Aleutian van into a ditch off of Airport Beach Road.