Man arrested for reportedly stealing from west Fairbanks property | Local News

Alaska State Troopers with the Criminal Suppression Unit started surveilling the property “anticipating the suspects would return,” the complaint stated.

According to the complaint, a man and a woman arrived at the property around 4:45 p.m. Sunday, and it appeared that they loaded several items into the car.

The shop door was open when troopers arrived at the property that evening. Troopers saw foot prints in the snow leading to the storage container door and shack and bolt cutters in the snow near the storage container.

A white Subaru Forester arrived at the Dupa Road property around 9:45 p.m. The car was identified as reported stolen on Oct. 15. Troopers arrived at the property and found Morris James Saunders and a second man trying to leave the area. Saunders had a handgun concealed on his person. Troopers found a generator and a long gun protective case in the car and collectible coins on Saunders and the man.

Saunders said that he told the man in the car that the property belonged to his relatives who were out of town.

According to the complaint, Saunders told troopers that he burglarized the property on three separate occasions. The first time, he and a man cut the lock off the shop and collected tools. They went upstairs with flashlights and took ammunition, cartridge components, bolt cutters, clothes, air tools, an impact wrench and a shotgun. In the shop, they took a 1911 pistol, a .22 pistol, ammunition, collectible coins, rifle magazines, holders, ammunition bandoliers, two rifles and two shotguns. The next day, the first man went to the shed and took tools while Saunders took coins, tools, foreign currency, clothing, ammunition and a silver bar. The third time Saunders returned to the property with the second man for the generator. They also took a pair of bibs, a shotgun and a reloading press, the complaint stated.

Saunders said he got the car from a man named “Cory” at the Gas Line II on College Road. Cory reportedly told Saunders that the car was “hot.”

Saunders was charged with three counts of felony first-degree burglary, four counts of felony second-degree theft and one count of felony first-degree vehicle theft. A judge set Saunders’s bail at $10,000.