Last week, a man awaiting trial was able to escape from his Pretrial Enforcement Division (PED) supervision, and Alaska State Troopers are still working to find him.
Buck Robert Mills, 39, fled from PED personnel on Tuesday, Oct. 9 on Sherwood Lane in Juneau, according to an AST release. Mills took off his electronic monitoring device as he fled, Troopers say, and has not been found since then. An arrest warrant has been issued for Mills for violating conditions of release, and bail is set at $5,000, according to the AST release.
Anybody with information about Mills is asked to contact either AST at 465-4000 or the Juneau Police Department at 586-0600.
Mills, a Sitka resident, is awaiting trial for allegedly attempting to help smuggle drugs into Lemon Creek Correctional Center earlier this year. Mills is one of nine co-defendants in the case. He faces charges of first-degree promoting contraband, third-degree drug misconduct and fourth-degree drug misconduct.
A Juneau grand jury indicted Mills and the eight others in April for an attempt to smuggle drugs into LCCC in December 2017. According to an interview with Department of Law Criminal Division Director John Skidmore at the time, Mills was one of four alleged co-conspirators to be in LCCC at the time of the crime.
PED is a new statewide initiative put in place to better monitor defendants as they await trial. It was put in place as part of Senate Bill 91 and went into effect this January. The program aims to help more defendants get to their court appearances, keep the community safer and in the long run help to reduce recidivism rates statewide.
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
Buck Robert Mills, 39, escaped from Pretrial Enforcement Division supervision last week and Alaska State Troopers are searching for him. (Courtesy Photo | Alaska State Troopers)
