Two Nikiski residents have been arrested for hindering prosecution in the location of Joshua Crouse and Randall Gary after they escaped from the Kenai Peninsula Youth Facility Friday night.
Seargeant Scott McBride with the Kenai Police Department…
McBride: “Follow-up investigation led Kenai Police to contact two individuals, Sharon Berghone, age 63 of Nikiski, and Larry Crouse, age 41 of Nikiski. Berghone was arrested and remanded to Wildwood pre-trial for two counts of Hindering Prosecution 1st degree, Crouse was arrested and remanded to Wildwood pre-trial for one count of Hindering Prosecution 1st degree. The charges stem from post escape assistance that was provided to the last two juveniles who were apprehended in Nikiski on Saturday.”
McBride could not detail how assistance to the juveniles was provided.
The ordeal began on the evening of Friday, November 7, around 8:30 pm when Kenai Police responded to the juvenile detention center on Marathon road to the report of a “riot.”
Head of the state Division of Juvenile Justice Karen Forester detailed what happened before the riot which involved seven detainees at the facility.
Forester: “It was a normal shift in that our juvenile justice officers were engaged in a pro-social, positive activity with youth and in this instance I believe it was a game.”
Kenai Police officers found facility guards had been assaulted and subsequently five teenage males had escaped.
Forester could not give an update as to how the guards are due to confidential information.
At 9:21 pm Friday night an officer saw three of the escapees walking eastbound on Lawton Drive between Kenai Central High School and Rogers Road. When spotted the three teenager ran into the woods and multiple Kenai Police as well as Alaska State Trooper units surrounded the area.
The three juvenile escapees were found hiding in a dumpster at the south end of the ice rink parking lot, apprehended and returned to the Kenai Peninsula Youth Facility.
Through the investigation of the three escapees, 18 year-old Cody Rosenthal of Homer was transported to Wildwood Pretrial Facility and booked for Riot, Escape 2nd Degree and Theft 2nd Degree.
The remaining two 16 year-old juvenile escapees, Crouse and Gary, were sighted and reported to be walking in Nikiski Saturday, November 8, around 4:30 pm and subsequently apprehended when Kenai Police and Alaska State Troopers responded.