A former Alaska State Trooper has been accused of stealing $20,000 from the post in Anchor Point, where he once worked, and is awaiting extradition back to the state for prosecution.
Former Trooper Sgt. Jeremy Stone, 46, has been charged in Kenai Superior Court with second-degree theft, scheming to defraud and misapplication of property following a months-long investigation by the Financial Crimes Unit of the Alaska Bureau of Investigation, according to an online trooper dispatch report and online court records. He was indicted by a Kenai Grand Jury on March 11, and an additional charge of official misconduct will be filed at a later date, according to the dispatch report.
It all started when it was discovered an item containing a large sum of money was missing from evidence storage at the Anchor Point Trooper Post in May 2019, troopers wrote in the dispatch report. From there, the Financial Crimes Unit performed an audit of the evidence facility and found $20,000 in cash was missing. The unit, in the course of its investigation, determined Stone had taken it.
AST Communications Director Megan Peters explained via email that the word “item” was used to refer to the containers or bags used to hold the cash in the evidence facility.
Stone joined the Alaska State Troopers in February 2005, according to Peters. He left in October 2015 and his last posting was in Anchor Point. Peters said that by law she could not provide additional details about how or why Stone left AST back then.
“Separations can occur for reasons such as retirement, voluntary resignation or termination,” she wrote.
Stone’s alleged crimes are said to have taken place between the dates of Oct. 29, 2012 and Oct. 21, 2015, according to online court records.
The Kenai Superior Court issued a $10,000 arrest warrant for Stone to be extradited back to Alaska. He was located and arrested in Coupeville, Washington on Aug. 21 by U.S. Marshals from the Western District of Washington, according to the trooper dispatch report. He is still in Washington awaiting extradition.
Over the course of the investigation, Peters said the Financial Crimes Unit investigator interviewed 25 people. She explained more of the process, which can take longer due to the nature of investigating a financial crime. For example, Peters said banks have 30 days to respond to search warrants with the requested records and information.
“With financial crimes cases, it is the waiting for bank records that takes the longest period of time and then reviewing them,” Peters wrote. “So unlike an assault where conclusions can potentially be reached after the interviews, there was a lot of record-searching and work that had to be done.”
Troopers got assistance from the Federal Way Police Department in Washington and the Great Falls Montana Police Department in locating Stone. He had moved a few times since leaving Alaska, which made locating him a little more difficult, she said.
The case is being handled by the Office of Special Prosecutions.
Reach Megan Pacer at mpacer@homernews.com.
