A woman came home Tuesday night to catch two men in the act of burglarizing her residence, chasing them off and then helping lead police to their getaway van.
The two suspects, Joseph Corry Tong, 48, and Derek Hunter Goodman, 43, were arrested and then arraigned Wednesday in Juneau District Court. They pleaded not guilty to first-degree burglary.
But more suspects might be outstanding, based on the Juneau Police Department complaint against Tong and Goodman.
JPD Officer Jason Van Sickle responded to a burglary call at 7:13 p.m. from the woman in the 3200 block of Bresee Street in the Mendenhall Valley. The woman told him that she came home to find her front door cracked open and two men inside, Van Sickle wrote in his report.
“They said they thought the house was vacant,” the victim said. “They had their hands full with my movies and my Bose speaker. … They had all this other stuff waiting by the front door.”
According to the victim, they had gone through her jewelry box and some items are missing, including pearl earrings worth $250 and a diamond heart necklace she valued at $300.
She told Van Sickle that when she confronted the two men, they dropped what was in their hands and left, and that she followed them as they got into a green Dodge Caravan. She then followed them in the van, which she lost sight of for about three minutes.
Van Sickle wrote in his report that he found the vehicle and stopped the van on Trinity Drive and that a male passenger tried to walk away; that man was detained, as were Tong, Goodman and a fourth passenger. The homeowner identified Tong and Goodman as the two men who were inside her house, Van Sickle wrote.
Suspects deny entering home, point fingers at two others
Tong, Goodman and one of the passengers were interviewed and gave conflicting statements, according to Van Sickle’s report.
Tong initially told Van Sickle that he never entered the house, that he was “the only sober guy driving a bunch of idiots,” but that he did not know what was going on and was not a getaway driver. Tong said a fifth man and his girlfriend broke into the house, then said the woman stayed in the van and that a sixth man also burglarized the house. He said they told him to flee and then jumped out of the van.
“Seriously! I don’t know their names,” Tong reportedly told Van Sickle. “I did not go in the house. I swear to god, Jesus and everything.”
In a second interview, Tong said the fifth man was Alaska Native with full-sleeve tattoos, and described the sixth man as a “goofy looking guy with a goatee and bug eyes.” Tong said he walked up as far as the porch of the house before he “got the hibbi-jibbies” and went back to the van, and then the two men came running out. According to Tong, the two burglars and the woman “all bailed together” and ran down a trail.
“I’ll admit to a DUI,” Tong reportedly told Van Sickle. “I was driving and I’m (expletive)-up drunk.”
Goodman told Van Sickle he was going to garage sales with a friend, and thought the victim’s residence was his friend’s place. He also denied actually entering the residence, or handling her property.
“I didn’t really mean to walk into her place,” he reportedly said. “I said holy (expletive), I’m leaving. She started chasing us down the road.”
The passenger who was not charged told Van Sickle that he did not know anything about the burglary, and that they had simply been dropping “a couple of people” off. He apparently declined to provide any further information on them other than to tell Van Sickle, “They looked like people.”
Van Sickle also interviewed the residents of a home on Malissa Drive who saw the green van pull up to a dead end before two men and a woman got out and ran into the woods. Van Sickle wrote in the report that he found fresh shoe impressions in the mud, but did not locate the suspects or any abandoned property. He added that he spoke again to the victim, and she was adamant that Tong and Goodman were the two men she saw inside her house.
Tong and Goodman both were arrested and the van was impounded; the investigation is ongoing, Lt. David Campbell told the Empire Wednesday.
‘A very serious offense’
In Juneau District Court Wednesday afternoon, Tong and Goodman both were arraigned and pleaded not guilty to first-degree burglary.
Assistant Public Defender Timothy Ayer told Judge Thomas Nave that he had issues with the “questionable” identification of Tong and Goodman, adding that there seemed to be a question of who did what, but that everyone denied being inside the residence.
Assistant District Attorney Amy Paige called the burglary “a very serious offense,” characterizing it as a home invasion. The homeowner followed the offenders and identified them, Paige told Nave, adding, “The state has a strong case regardless of what they had to say.”
She noted that Goodman had a lengthy theft-related criminal history including eight to 10 convictions for larceny; Nave set his bail at $7,500 cash performance.
Paige told Nave that Tong had a shorter criminal history with six prior convictions that included DUI and theft. She added that he also had a pending case from May 9 in which he allegedly shoplifted from Foodland. His bail was set at $5,000.
Both men were to return to court for a preliminary hearing on June 1.
• Contact reporter Liz Kellar at 523-2246 or liz.kellar@juneauempire.com.
