Three people were arrested after officers found stolen mail from across Anchorage, nearly a dozen stolen credit cards and methamphetamine in a car the suspects were driving.
Sharees P. Tuvera, 19, Joshua R. M. Pebte, 20, and Mark Malabanan, 26, face 11 charges of second-degree theft and one charge of fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance.
Malabanan faces three additional forgery charges, and Pebte is charged with violating conditions of his release.
On Friday around 11:20 a.m., a woman called 911 saying that she was trailing suspects in a Kia Rio who had stolen mail from her house. The woman had seen the suspects steal from another set of mailboxes, she told police.
The woman stayed on the call with the dispatcher as she followed the suspects through the Klatt Road neighborhood, up Potter Valley, down to Golden View Drive, onto Hillside Road, Abbott Road, and finally, onto Birch Road, charging documents say.
The suspects were trying to lose her, the woman told police. They drove through stop signs and passed cars in no-passing zones.
Police converged on the suspects on Birch Road. They found Tuvera driving, Pebte in the front passenger seat, and Malabanan in the back.
Inside of the Kia Rio officers found a "plethora of stolen mail, opened and unopened, from various addresses stretching from Chugiak, through Eagle River and all over Anchorage," charging documents say.
Officers also found at least 11 stolen credit cards, a stolen Alaska ID, three stolen forged checks, methamphetamine and a 9mm handgun inside the car, charging documents say.
Malabanan, the registered owner of the Kia, told police that the suspects all lived together on East 26th Avenue. All three of them used meth, he said. They had been stealing mail throughout Anchorage, searching for checks and credit cards, Malbanan told police. They took turns driving the Kia and stealing mail, he said.
Malabanan told police he owned the 9mm pistol. He'd given the gun to Pebte, who had pulled the gun out while they were trying to escape, Malabanan told police. Pebte had said that he may need to use the handgun. Malabanan told Pebte not to.
Malabanan admitted to forging around $3,000 in stolen checks, charges say.
U.S. Postal Service Inspectors seized the mail and interviewed Malabanan, investigators say.
The suspects don't have prior criminal convictions. Pebte is on bail for felony theft and forgery, where he is charged with forging a check, charging documents say.