Alaska Archives – Hard Boiled News

Alaska Fisherman Charged With Faking Own Death at Sea to Avoid Jail Time

July 20, 2017 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Ryan “Unga” Meganack

PORT GRAHAM, Alaska — An Alaska fisherman has been charged with trying to fake his own death at sea to avoid a jail sentence for a sex assault, triggering a massive rescue operation by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Federal prosecutors say Ryan Riley “Unga” Meganack, 34, and his girlfriend Ivy Rose Rodriguez, 25, hatched an elaborate plot to make it look like he had disappeared at sea while he was just hiding out in the woods to escape going to jail.

Meganack had agreed to plead guilty to charges of sexual assault on Dec. 5, 2016 in a deal that involved jail time.

Less than a week before he was supposed to turn himself in, authorities say Meganack piloted his fishing vessel out to an island near Port Graham and abandoned a skiff there in a way that made it look like he had been washed away at sea.

But Meganack took his ship back to Port Graham where he picked up Rodriguez and then secured the vessel in a nearby tidal lagoon and then went to a makeshift campsite in the woods.

Rodriguez headed back to Port Graham where she told Meganack’s family the following day that he had gone out aboard the skiff and was drunk and that the craft had been suffering from motor trouble.

His family then reported him missing triggering a three day search for him in which the Coast Guard combed the sea after finding his skiff washed up on the island near Port Graham. In total, officials say $311,000 was spent on the search.

Authorities eventually caught wind of where Meganack was hiding after a tipster came forward, and arrested him.

Both Meganack and Rodriguez have been charged with conspiracy and false distress.

8 People Injured in Moose Attacks in Anchorage in May

June 3, 2017 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Gentle creatures of the north they are not.

Authorities say eight people were hurt in moose attacks in May in Anchorage in an unusual bout of urban animal violence directed at humans.

Wildlife experts say the attacks were likely the result of more people going out into parks as the weather gets warmer couple with a spike in female moose giving birth to calves, making them more protective and territorial.

“People want to get out and about, hiking and biking, playing in the woods and greenbelts. It also is the time when the moose give birth to calves,” Fish and Game spokesman Ken Marsh told the Alaska Dispatch-News.

Still, eight encounters in a month is high, officials said.

In one of the most severe attacks, a woman was hospitalized with serious injuries on May 22 after she encountered a mother moose with her calves as she walked her dogs through her subdivision.

“The moose attacked her, and came back twice, which is why she was injured so badly,” said Mark McAllister, the subdivision’s manager.

Other cases involved moose charging people and knocking them down, leaving them with bumps and bruises.

Officials have been hanging signs up around Anchorage warning people to be wary of the moose.

Alaska Police Hunt for Bumbling Thief Who Wore a Box on His Head

April 22, 2017 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Not the most menacing get up.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — If he has any brains at all, he’ll use the money he stole for a better disguise.

Police in Anchorage, Alaska are hunting a for a knife-wielding thief who tried to rip off two convenience stores while wearing a cardboard box on his head as a disguise.

The first episode took place Monday at Big Mike’s Tesoro gas station when the man walked in wearing the box and brandishing a knife and demanded cash and cigarettes from the clerk, who handed the items over, investigators said.

“Some goofball wearing a cardboard box on his head with two eye holes punched out came in and threatened her,” manager Kevin Wright told the Anchorage Dispatch News. “There was a customer in the store that he didn’t see, who was already calling 911.”

About six hours later, a box-wearing man walked into the nearby Value Liquor, holding a knife and demanding cash. But this time, another customer walked in and demanded the suspect leave and he walked out empty handed.

Police dogs were able to track a scent from the second robbery attempt, but the suspect got away and no arrests have yet been made.

Dentist Accused of Pulling Sedated Patient’s Tooth While Riding a Hoverboard

April 21, 2017 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

If the charges are true, Seth Lookhart gives whole new meaning to ‘nightmare dentist’

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Alaska dentist charged in massive Medicaid fraud case was allegedly so fast and loose in his practice that he pulled a sedated patient’s tooth while riding a hoverboard.

Seth Lookhart is accused of routinely knocking out patients for no medical reason, but so he could bill Medicaid for the more expensive intravenous sedation procedures. In 2016, he allegedly billed the government nearly $2 million for the procedures without proper justification.

The probe into Lookhart’s shady billing practices revealed a number of improprieties, including a video which he sent around to colleagues, of him performing an extraction on an unconscious woman while riding a hoverboard.

In a message sent with the video, Lookhart allegedly joked that it represented a “new standard of care,” the Alaska Dispatch News reported.

The patient later told investigators that she was unaware of the shenanigans that went on while she was knocked out.

Lookhart’s alleged scam specifically targeted Medicaid patients for the more comprehensive sedation procedure, which private insurers usually will not cover.

Such sedation is allowed by Medicaid only in emergency situations or where a patient is “uncontrollable” — like those who have severe developmental disabilities or suffer from extreme anxiety at the dentist.

Prosecutors say Lookhart billed $1.8 million for IV sedation in 2016, which made up nearly a third of all such billings out of 57 authorized dentists in the entire state of Alaska for the year.

Alaska Man Charged in $1 Billion Scheme To Evade Iran Sanctions

December 17, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Kenneth Zong is charged with moving $1 billion of Iranian money using phony marble tile sales

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A one-time Alaska restaurateur has been charged with helping illegally move more than $1 billion in Iranian money around the world in an elaborate conspiracy to evade sanctions.

Kenneth Zong, 77, is accused of plotting with four others — three Iranian nationals and a U.S. citizen — to get around restrictions by setting up phony business transactions to sell marble tiles in Iran, federal prosecutors said.

They say Zong — who is a naturalized U.S. citizen from South Korea — netted somewhere between $10 million and $17 million for his role in the scam. Federal authorities had previously seized more than 20 homes around Anchorage, luxury cars, jewelry and yacht they say Zong had acquired using the illicit proceeds.

Zong is currently incarcerated in South Korea on charges related to the plot.

Prosecutors allege that from January 2011 through at least April 2014, Zong and his co-conspirators worked to move roughly $1 billion of Iranian money from Korean bank accounts and convert them into tradeable currencies, such as dollars and euros, defrauding Korean regulators into thinking the transactions were legitimate in the process.

The Alaska Dispatch News reported that Zong had gotten involved in the plot through his son Mitchell Zong, who while at Colorado State University, met Majid Fasoodeh, an Iranian associated with Farsoodeh & Partnership, company linked to individuals working for the government of Iran.

The ploy involved Zong using his Korean-registered company, Anchore, to fictitiously sell marble tile and other construction material to an Iranian shell company on Kish Island in Iran, a free trade where foreign investment was allowed to occur.

Using false bills of lading and invoices, Zong was able to transfer Iranian cash into the accounts of his South Korean company, where he would transfer it into dollars or euros and then wired it to accounts controlled by Iranian individuals around the world.

Zong is also charged with 43 counts of money laundering related to efforts to obscure the origin of his multi-million dollar by acquiring real estate and other luxury items.

Zong and his wife, Kilja, ran the Phillips International Inn and Trattoria Bella restaurants in Anchorage until 2006.. After that he became involved in selling surplus Alaska pink salmon to Korea, as well as various other businesses.

Zong was convicted in Korea for breaking its foreign exchange and customs laws by filing false import and export documents. U.S. prosecutors hope to extradite him back to the U.S. to face trial, but it is unclear when that might happen.

Dad Shoots Newborn Baby, Wife and Mom, Then Turns Gun on Self

November 25, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

McKay Hutton (left) is believed to have shot his mother, daughter and wife, Emily McDonald (left) before killing himself

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Four people, including an 8-week-old baby girl, were found fatally shot in an Alaska hotel room in what police believe was a murder-suicide.

Cops were called to a Hampton Inn in Fairbanks in the afternoon on the day after Thanksgiving by staff reporting a “suspicious circumstance.” Upon arriving, they found a man crying in the hallway on the second floor who directed officers to a room.

There, police discovered four people dead. They were identified as Linda Hutton, 54, McKay Hutton, 22, Emily McDonald, 22, and Teagan, 8-weeks-old.

Investigators say they believe McKay Hutton killed his mother Linda, wife Emily and daughter Teagan before turning the gun on himself.

Baby Teagan, was born just 8-weeks ago

Police said the motive for the shooting remained under investigation but there was no indication that drugs or alcohol were involved. The family all resided in the Fairbanks area and it was unclear what had brought them to the hotel.

The man in the hallway was identified as a relative but police say he was not in the room at the time of the shooting. McDonald had another child who lived together with her and Hutton, but police say the child was not present at the time of the shooting and is safe.

McDonald’s mother, Linda Hendrick, told KTVA-TV that her daughter had planned to become a registered nurse.

“When I was called and notified that my daughter and granddaughter were murdered, I fell to my knees and cried like never before,” she said. “This news has destroyed me. No one deserves this! Emily was a wonderful person, and an amazing mother.”

Alaska Police Shooting Leads Cops to Possible Serial Killer

November 15, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

James Dale Ritchie is being eyed in five Alaska slayings

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Investigators think they may have uncovered a serial killer in Alaska after linking a gun used by a man who opened fire on cops to five other slayings earlier this year.

Anchorage police first encountered James Dale Ritchie, 40, on a downtown street early on Nov. 12 when they approached him for questioning while searching for a man who had stiffed a cab driver on a fare.

When Officer Arn Salao asked Ritchie to stop, he drew a gun and opened fire, unloading six shots. Salao hopped out of his patrol car and returned fire. Sgt. Marc Patzke then arrived on the scene and starting firing at Ritchie, striking him four times in the legs and torso and killing him.

Salao was hit multiple times, with one bullet lodging in his liver. He was expected to live, police said.

When investigators recovered Ritchie’s weapon, a Colt Python 357 revolver, ballistics testing linked it to five unsolved fatal shootings in the Anchorage area dating back to July.

“We know from our investigation in the last 78 hours that the gun used to attempt to kill officer Salao was the same gun used in five other homicides here in Anchorage in 2016,” Anchorage Police Chief Chris Tolley said.

The first case dates back to July 3, when two bodies on a bike path. The victims were identified as Jason Netter and Brianna Foisy. The slugs were determined to have come from a Colt Python 357, police said.

On July 29, cops received a call reporting gunshots and discovered the body of 21-year-old Trayveonkindell Thompson on a residential street. He had been shot multiple times from the same Colt Python 357 and his bike had been stolen. Using witness descriptions and surveillance footage, cops were able to issue a police sketch and a basic description of the suspect as a 6-foot-3 man wearing a camouflage jacket.

A witness sketch bears an uncanny resemblance to Ritchie

On August 28, police were called by a woman who found a man who’d been shot along a bike trail. Investigators searching the area soon discovered a second man who’d been fatally shot underneath a pavilion.

They were identified as Bryant De Husson and Kevin Turner. Investigators determined that the victims did not know each other and appeared to have been killed separately. Very little evidence was discovered at the scene, but ballistics matched the fatal shots to the same weapon as the earlier killings.

Police say Ritchie had a lengthy rap sheet for drug, burglary, reckless driving and weapons arrests and was jailed multiple times on parole violations.

Investigators say while the gun ties all the cases together, it does not definitively prove that Ritchie was the killer in all of them and the investigations is ongoing.