(KODIAK, Alaska) – Alaska State Troopers, with assistance from Alaska Wildlife Troopers, were able to arrest two men on Feb. 9 who were responsible for multiple burglaries in the Kodiak area. Between August 2015 and January 2016, 11 residential burglaries occurred outside of Kodiak city limits, some as far out as the Bell Flats area.

The thieves, identified as Kodiak residents Shay Monkiewics, 20, and Justin Isadore, 18, were both indicted on Feb. 8 for about 30 counts each of felony burglary and theft charges by a Kodiak Grand Jury. Both were also charged with criminal mischief relating to damage they caused to private property while breaking in. They were arrested separately the next day. Monkiewics turned himself in at the court house while Isadore was taken into custody at a family member’s home. During their crime spree, the men mostly acquired firearms.

“Up to 30 firearms— handguns, shotguns and rifles – were taken,” Trooper Brock Simmons, a patrol trooper at the Kodiak post, said. “They also picked up some cash and expensive jewelry. One victim said a ring was valued at about $10,000.”

Monkiewics and Isadore appear to have selected victims that were known to them. “They were all people that the defendants knew through the school system or friends and family members,” Trooper Simmons said. “They also knew when these people wouldn’t be home or were out of town. They knew or had a good idea of what items they wanted to steal before they broke in. These were not random cases. The homes were targeted.”

A handful of guns were recovered from a site where they were buried at in the Gibson Cove area, but most are yet to be recovered. Victims have provided troopers with serial numbers, photos or detailed descriptions of their guns in the hopes that they are found and ultimately returned to them.

“We have put in a lot of time on this case, and there is still a lot of work to be done. Hopefully that includes returning stolen property when it is found,” said Trooper Simmons. “At the very least, the arrests bring closure to several residential burglaries that tormented people’s sense of security around the community.”

This case would not have come to fruition as seamlessly as it did without the support of the victims and the community. A number of tips regarding the burglaries came to troopers through the local Crime Stoppers Tip line at 907-486-3113. For more information regarding Crime Stoppers in the Kodiak area, visit  https://www.kodiakcrimestoppers.com/.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]

  Alaska, bells flats, burglary, crime, felony, firearms, grand jury, justin isadore, Kodiak, shay monkiewics, theft