After issuing a wanted poster on Monday for a Homer man charged in a June 4 Ninilchik Beach robbery, Alaska State Troopers have not yet caught Clarence S. Hock, 23. Troopers have arrested another man wanted in the robbery, Sean Carpenter, 25. Troopers apprehended Carpenter on Saturday at his Homer home.
Troopers described Hock as being 5-feet-9-inches tall and weighing 195 pounds with blond hair and blue eyes. Troopers said Hock is believed to be armed and driving a white GMC truck, license plate GLP 743. Anyone who sees Hock or has information on his whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the Alaska State Troopers Anchor Point post at 235-8239, reference incident number AK15042309.
Troopers have charged Carpenter and Hock with first-degree robbery and second-degree theft and charged Carpenter with third-degree assault, all felonies. In a separate incident from May 21, troopers also charged Carpenter with two counts of fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance for possession of heroin and oxycodone and fifth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance for possession of Xanax.
According to criminal complaints, troopers said Carpenter and Hock met a man at an Anchor Point pawnshop and said they would pay him to drive them to Kenai. The man said he knew Carpenter and Hock from previous contacts. The man noticed friends of Carpenter and Hock following his car, but at the time did not think it strange that they would ask for a ride. In Ninilchik they stopped at the beach. Troopers alleged that while there, sitting in the seat behind the driver, Carpenter strangled the man with his seat belt and demanded his wallet, and that Hock took the man’s wallet with about $680 that he had gotten from pawning items. The driver said Carpenter grabbed a knife and hatchet from the car, and then demanded his cell phone and keys. Hock and Carpenter then ran to the other car that had been following them. The driver flagged down a car and called troopers. Troopers said the man had fresh scratch marks on his neck. The driver identified another man who was in the car following him. Troopers do not know the role of the other people involved, but said in the complaint it appears the robbery was preplanned.
In the drug possession charges, Trooper Peter Frederick wrote in a criminal complaint that he contacted Carpenter about 4:45 p.m. May 21 when he was a passenger in a 2004 Saturn Ion parked on Rogers Loop. Frederick said the female driver had not been wearing her seatbelt. During the stop, Frederick wrote that he saw a prescription bottle on the dashboard. He asked if he could look at the bottle, and Carpenter gave Frederick the bottle. Frederick said he saw Tramadol, which he said he believed was a controlled substance, but did not know at the time if it was a felony or misdemeanor to possess without a prescription. Frederick released the woman and Carpenter, but got a search warrant for the car. During a search Frederick said he found hydrocodone and Xanax pills, a used hypodermic needle and about .65 grams total of what the trooper said he field tested as heroin. The driver declined to speak with Frederick about suspected drugs and Carpenter also refused to speak about them when he was arrested on the robbery and theft charges.
