A 40-year-old man visited a downtown gym early Wednesday morning, but instead of lifting weights, he allegedly stole almost $1,000 worth of merchandise and smashed the building’s glass door to pieces, police say.
The Juneau Police Department arrested John Paul Lucion Holland, 40, at 3:25 a.m. Wednesday, after he unknowingly triggered a silent alarm system at the Alaska Club fitness center on West Willoughby Avenue. A responding officer saw Holland exit through the shattered glass door carrying shirts, hats, sports drinks and a painting he stole from the club’s hallway, JPD spokesman Lt. David Campbell said.
Holland led officers on a short foot chase, but he quickly gave up without incident, JPD Deputy Police Chief Ed Mercer told the Empire.
Holland was charged with second-degree burglary and theft, both which are class C felonies that have a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
“We’ve never had someone that brave to literally smash into the building,” Alaska Club General Manager Russ Stevens said. “It ties into the big crime picture in Juneau. It’s just getting worse all the way around.”
Stevens said he’s only worked for the club for one year, and in that time car riflings in parking lots have been the only criminal element the club has faced. Stevens also said he spoke with a statewide representative for the Alaska Club who told him a burglary of this nature has only happened maybe three times in the 30 years the clubs have operated in the state.
In a surveillance video Stevens watched after the burglary, he said he could see the suspect walking around the front desk area for nearly 15 minutes, possibly in search of money, and realizing the club didn’t keep any on hand after hours, he started grabbing clothes from the gym’s shopping area.
“He was just looking for something easy and quick,” Stevens said, describing the video. Police have not released the public.
The suspect, Holland, has gotten in trouble with the law a number of times this year, court records online show. He was convicted of drunken driving in March and also fined for having an open container. He was charged with larceny, a misdemeanor, last month; that case is still open.
Lt. Campbell said it isn’t clear if Holland is tied to any other of the burglaries that have recently plagued the downtown area. He said if a connection is made then more charges will follow.
The string
There’s been at least half a dozen burglaries of downtown businesses in the past two months, police said.
Earlier this week, Invisible World Trading Company on South Franklin Street was broken into. Shop owner Steve Cohen said he was asleep when he received several calls in a row that his shop was broken into just before midnight, and he needed to head down.
The glass door to his business was smashed in and several handmade sweaters and jewelry pieces were missing, the value of which is estimated at $700.
“I think there’s a feeling that there’s a problem (in the downtown area), and police need to deal with it,” Cohen said. “This is the lowest level of crime. They could have easily broken someone else’s window in much less time and gotten much more valuable merchandise. … These are not super sophisticated crooks.”
On the upside, Cohen said his faith in his downtown merchant neighbors was renewed. Several people provided him with descriptions of the suspects — a couple who apparently canvassed the shop first. He said, second-hand, the man and woman appeared to walk as a couple who were romantically involved, and that the woman even carried a cruise ship purse. The ships were gone at the hour of the break-in.
Lt. Campbell said the department hasn’t heard about the tourist disguise, but he did say that both suspects are believed to be white and the man may be 6-feet-tall with no facial hair.
The cost of this burglary to Cohen’s business goes beyond the unique items stolen, which Cohen said wouldn’t go for much on the street and are easily recognized by their “Invisible World” clothing tags. The foot traffic for his business has gone down slightly since the incident.
“When you have two doors open, it’s much more inviting than when you have a bunch of broken glass covered with plywood. It doesn’t say ‘come on in’ the same way,” Cohen said.
In the 31 years Cohen has been in business downtown, he said his shop has been burglarized three times, and twice he helped JPD track down the crooks. He looks forward to doing that once more.
A changing Juneau
Less hopeful, Sarah Stucky, owner of Alaska General Store on North Franklin Street, said after a burglary at her shop last month she’s not sure she’s going to keep her doors open much longer. She said she’s seen foot traffic go down in the area as crime continues to go up. Her store was robbed of an estimated $60,000 worth of collectible Tlingit art and jewelry last month. An arrest in that case hasn’t been made, and it doesn’t make Stucky feel good about the odds of staying open with burglars on the loose.
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“I’m having a hard time running my business seven days a week in this economy,” Stucky said. “I’ve had my store for 28 years, and I’ve never had anything like this because (Juneau is) landlocked. Anyone in the past would’ve got caught so quickly. I don’t know why we’re having such a hard time getting these people. It’s escalated so dramatically that I’m not sure I’m keeping my business open anymore. I’m scared they’re going to hit me twice.”
The consensus from Stucky, Cohen and Alaska Club manager Stevens is that the downtown area is changing for the worst.
Other recent incidents also include $14,000 in cash that went missing from the Princess Cruise Line office last month and $6,800 in merchandise missing from the downtown Artifacts store and art gallery.
Campbell said the recent increase in burglaries is on the department’s radar.
“It’s something the department is taking very seriously,” Campbell said.
He added that the department as plans to up its presence in general as a form of deterrence for crime.
According to the daily crime bulletin from JPD, another commercial burglary took place on Tuesday. Details were not available by day’s end.
• Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or paula.solis@juneauempire.com.
