Retirement home cleaned out over winter, including two trucks and a boat.

By Michael Armstrong

Homer Independent Press

Someone mowed his lawn.

That detail stuck out when a Washington man returned to his Whiskey Gulch home this month after a year Outside. 

The lawn had been neatly cut and grass trimmed around the driveway of his house on the Sterling Highway. But missing were a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado truck, a 1982 Chevrolet ¾-ton pickup truck, a 1979 Crest Line boat and trailer, a TV, kitchen utensils, chest freezer, red wooden toolbox full of tools, a Skil saw, Ryobi cordless drill, wet/dry vacuum, a Stihl chainsaw, two battery chargers, tire pump/jump box, sockets/wrenches, eight fishing poles, fishing reels, tote of rain gear, Xbox/games, marine radio, propane tank, electronic fish finder, harpoons, portable power packs, 20-ton jack, a 6-ton jack, and a 6-gallon air compressor.

The victim discovered the thefts on Aug. 4 and reported them to Alaska State Troopers about 9 p.m. Locks had been cut on both doors. According to a criminal complaint, fifteen minutes later the victim called to say he found his boat and trailer — missing a right wheel — near Mile 161 Sterling Highway and he was going to get a new axle to recover his boat. Trooper Justin Hilario responded and saw that the vehicle identification number on the trailer had been damaged to make it unreadable.

Troopers made extra patrols of the boat and on Aug. 5 contacted two men spotted working on the boat trailer. One man said he was the boss of a man named John Longero and that Longero had asked him to fix the trailer. 

With help from Homer Police, troopers contacted Longero, a Homer resident. Longero said he bought the boat from a man named Neal Reutov and showed them a bill of sale with Reutov’s name and signature. Longero said when he went to the Whiskey Gulch home he saw Reutov mowing the lawn. While driving the boat back to Homer he said he hit a bridge and broke the axle.

The Washington man said he didn’t know Longero and that no one should have been at his Whiskey Gulch home while he was Outside. He said in February he’d learned the front door to his cabin was open. Troopers responded then but nothing appeared to be missing.

Trooper Hilario learned Reutov had been arrested on an outstanding warrant and interviewed him at the Homer Jail. Reutov said he hadn’t sold a boat to Longero. Reutov provided a signature on a piece of paper to Hilario, and when he compared it to the bill of sale, Hilario wrote, the signatures didn’t match.

On Aug. 13, Homer Police recovered the stolen Silverado. A man who said he bought the truck from Longero contacted police when he tried to get a new registration and discovered it had been stolen.

The man said he went to the Whiskey Gulch property to buy the truck and saw Longero mowing the lawn. The man showed Hilario a bill of sale with Longero’s signature. He also showed Facebook messages arranging details of the sale.

Coincidentally, on Aug. 15, Hilario learned Longero had been arrested in a separate incident. Longero refused to say anything further to troopers about the boat. 

Alaska State Troopers then charged James Longero with three counts of first-degree vehicle theft, first-degree burglary, second-degree theft, second-degree forgery, removal of identification marks — all felonies — and first-degree criminal trespass.

Longero remains in custody at Wildwood Pretrial Facility in Kenai. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 26 at the Kenai Courthouse.

The trooper investigation continues into who ended up with the other stolen goods and who actually did mow the lawn.