A DNA match enabled Haines Police to identify a Juneau man in connection with the March 2017 break in at the Haines Health Center where prescription pain killers and sedatives were stolen.
During the investigation five years ago, local police found the suspect’s blood on an automated medication dispensing system that had been broken into.
The 26-year-old suspect was arrested by Juneau police in September 2021 in connection to a separate burglary. A Juneau detective was able to match the man’s DNA that local police sent to the state’s crime lab in 2017. A Juneau Alaska State Trooper served a warrant on the man, who was incarcerated at Lemon Creek Correctional Center. The trooper took an additional DNA sample from the man, which was matched to the DNA found at the Haines SEARHC clinic.
The man was indicted by a grand jury on July 4, 2022 on a count of burglary in the second degree and criminal mischief n the third degree, both class C felonies.
The list of stolen medications included codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone-acetaminophen, oxycodone-HCL, morphine and fentanyl, along with lorazepam, diazepam, clonazepam, midazolam and chlordiazepoxide.
He was charged with two counts of burglary in the second degree and one count of theft in the second degree in connection to the Juneau break in.