Ketchikan teen charged with theft

Posted by crimeblog

Posted: August 31, 2009 - 3:19 pm

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KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) — The amount of money stolen from Chase Hoyt's bank account was far smaller than its impact on this southeast Alaska community.

According to police, Hoyt told a detective he gave Mitchell Peura and Patrick Doherty, both 19, his bank card and PIN number, and asked them to withdraw $60. Instead, police said, the pair used the card seven times between May 15 and May 30 to illegally withdraw $1,580.

"(Hoyt) indicated that he did not think they would steal from him because they had been friends for a long time, and throughout the time that the withdrawals took place, Mr. Doherty and Mr. Peura were hanging out at his house," according to a criminal complaint filed by Ketchikan police Detective Natalie White.

Peura faces charges of debit-card fraud and felony theft, and was scheduled to make his initial court appearance Monday afternoon. Doherty, police said, would have been charged, too. But the former Ketchikan High School valedictorian died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound one day after he was interviewed by a detective.

The death of the young man who had just completed his freshman year at Boston University shocked many in Ketchikan, and several hundred people attended a June 24 celebration of his life.

Hoyt, 20, reported the alleged thefts to police on June 3, Police Chief Ed Talik said. White reviewed ATM video images and gathered other evidence before questioning the suspects.

Doherty, police said, confirmed that he and Peura had been given the card and asked to withdraw $60.

"He indicated that he knew Mr. Hoyt had a lot of money and that it was his intention to repay him later," the criminal complaint said.

Peura, according to the complaint, told investigators the pair used to the card at least a half-dozen times.

"He explained that Mr. Doherty held the card to keep him (Peura) from 'burning' through the money," the complaint states. "He indicated that the money was spent on marijuana and Oxycontin, and that typically, they would agree on what they wanted and then withdraw the amount needed."

Doherty was interviewed June 16, the day before he shot himself on a beach.

At the celebration of Doherty's life, the Rev. Doug Edwards read an open letter from the Doherty family to the community. It stated that the young man had found himself in a situation and was being asked to be disloyal to a friend or to face a problem that might damage his own future and cause hurt and embarrassment to his family.

The letter said the solution he chose was no solution at all.

The Ketchikan Daily News reports that Peura declined an interview request. It's unclear if he has hired a lawyer or will have one assigned to him.

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Information from: Ketchikan Daily News, http://www.ketchikandailynews.com

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