Following the recent uptick in burglaries in the Tok area, Alaska State Troopers began an investigation into the crimes and soon determined, because of similarities, that the burglaries were connected, and soon developed a suspect in several of the cases.

Troopers began looking for 32-year-old Tok resident, Lance Grangaard, after determining he was connected with the crimes. 

Then, on August 26th, troopers received a call from a woman who discovered “numerous items stored on her property that did not belong to her,” troopers reported. When troopers responded to the location they found that the items on the woman’s property were stolen items from recent burglaries. After taking a closer look at the items, investigators would find that the items were from five additional unreported burglaries in the area.

At 2 pm on August 27th, troopers received a report of a theft in Tok. Stolen were two vehicles, a 2002 Chevy Tahoe and a 1976 Ford van. Following the report, troopers would receive a tip that led them to Grangaard. When they made contact with the suspect, he sped away from troopers in one of the stolen vehicles. But, he was later apprehended after “a foot pursuit near his residence.”[xyz-ihs snippet=”adsense-body-ad”]Both of the stolen vehicles were located at separate locations, the troopers reported in the trooper dispatch.

According to the trooper dispatch, Grangaard was charged with “several counts of burglary 1st degree, burglary 2nd degree, two counts of vehicle theft, theft 2nd degree, criminal mischief and criminal trespass.”

Grangaard was held temporarily at Tok holding before being transferred to Fairbanks and remanded to the Fairbanks Correctional Center.

Grangaard was in the news almost four years ago after an incident with a wolf while out trapping with his father. In that incident, a wolf attacked Grangaard while he was on his snow machine. Grangard managed to jump onto the wolf and land on the the lunging animal as it bit at his arm. The wolf “bucked him off” and ran off after the incident, according to the original Fairbanks News Miner article.

Grangaard was arraigned on five felony counts of Burglary in a Dwelling on Monday afternoon.

According to Vinelink online, Grangaard remains in custody at FCC.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adversal-468×60″]

  Alaska, burglary, crime, investigation, lance grangaard, theft, tok, vehicles