More than three months after he escaped from state supervision, Buck Robert Mills was apprehended Sunday.
Juneau Police Department officers arrested Mills, 39, during a traffic stop at 1:55 a.m. Sunday in the 1300 block of Egan Drive, according to JPD’s daily bulletin. Mills had escaped from Pretrial Enforcement Division (PED) supervision on Oct. 9, according to an Alaska State Troopers release at the time. He took off his electronic monitoring device and fled, Troopers said.
By the time police arrested Mills on Sunday, the Sitka resident had four warrants out for his arrest: A $10,000 AST warrant for failing to appear for a status hearing, a $5,000 AST warrant for failing to comply with conditions of probation and two outstanding JPD warrants totaling $500 for failing to appear for arraignment.
Mills appeared in court Tuesday afternoon, according to electronic court records.
[Escapee tries to swim away from police]
Mills is awaiting trial for allegedly trying to help smuggle drugs into Lemon Creek Correctional Center in December 2017. 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 statewide initiative put in place to better monitor defendants as they await trial. It was put in place as part of criminal justice reform bill Senate Bill 91 and went into effect Jan. 1, 2018. 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 in October 2018 and was arrested Sunday. (Courtesy Photo | Alaska State Troopers)
