Alaska State Troopers have released new details about a man well-known to Anchorage police and wanted after a series of Fairbanks encounters with law enforcement officers earlier this week.
Ryan R. Portlock, 28, was involved in a Tuesday incident that led troopers to evacuate and search a five-plex apartment building after a vehicle theft in Fairbanks on Monday evening, troopers said in a Wednesday dispatch.
"Portlock has an open arrest warrant for felony probation violations related to (first-degree theft) and (failure) to stop at the direction of a peace officer convictions," troopers wrote. "New charges resulting from events that occurred on (Tuesday) will be determined after consultation with the district attorney's office, and presentation to a grand jury."
Troopers said in a Thursday dispatch that they first saw Portlock at about 9 p.m. Monday, when he was driving a 2002 Ford van erratically on the Steese Highway near Chena Hot Springs Road. When troopers pulled him over, they said, he got out of the vehicle -- but didn't stay put for long.
"As troopers approached and attempted to make contact with Portlock, he immediately got back in the vehicle and fled the area," troopers wrote. "AST followed Portlock to the area of Farmer's Loop Road and (the) Steese Highway."
Fairbanks police said the van was found abandoned in the area. About 45 minutes later, according to troopers, a Fairbanks police cruiser was flagged down by a man at the Holiday gas station off the Johansen Expressway near the Old Steese Highway.
"The man reported that his 2006 Dodge Stratus had just been stolen from the gas station parking lot," troopers wrote. "The car was parked, unoccupied with the engine running, when it was stolen. The police officer saw the stolen car leaving the area and attempted to stop the car."
The stolen vehicle was briefly pursued on the Johansen Expressway, but officers had to break off the chase in the area of Chena Pump Road near Amherst Drive due to slippery conditions.
At about 11 a.m. the next day, troopers got a report that the stolen Stratus was parked on Dolly Varden Lane. When they arrived, a man -- now identified as Portlock -- got into the car and drove it into a ditch with troopers in pursuit, then ran back to the five-plex apartment.
Troopers called in their Special Emergency Reaction Team to evacuate other residents from the structure for five hours as they attempted to communicate with Portlock. After obtaining a search warrant for the entire building, SERT members checked it room-by-room in an unsuccessful search for Portlock. A total of less than $2,000 in damage, including a broken exterior window -- reimbursable by the state Department of Public Safety -- was done to the building by troopers during the search.
Portlock first made Alaska headlines in December 2011, when troopers said he responded to his probation being revoked on a theft charge at the Nesbett Courthouse in Anchorage by bolting from the courtroom. Troopers said Portlock, moving too fast for officers to Taser him, made it outside the building before being arrested on an added escape charge which court records say was subsequently dismissed by prosecutors.
Anchorage police also had an encounter with Portlock in May 2013, when he was at the wheel of a stolen pickup that struck a patrol car while escaping a police barricade near Fourth Avenue and State Street in Muldoon. Two officers fired their service weapons on the truck but didn't hit Portlock or his two passengers, who were arrested on criminal-mischief charges when Portlock stopped near Standish Park. Portlock, who ran from the stopped truck, was picked up by officers on nearby Cherry Street.
According to court records, Portlock ultimately pleaded guilty to one count each of first-degree vehicle theft and failure to stop at the direction of a peace officer in the case. After two other incidents at the time involving officers firing guns at vehicles, including one in February 2013 that left 25-year-old vehicle-theft suspect Carl Bowie III dead, then-Anchorage Police Chief Mark Mew tightened the department's policy on using deadly force against suspects in vehicles.
Anyone who has information on Portlock's whereabouts should call Fairbanks troopers at 907-451-5100.