When officers from the Juneau Police Department served a search warrant on the house at 401 Harris Street on Wednesday, they found items that had been stolen from shops on Franklin Street, according to a JPD press release.
Earlier this month, The Grind Coffee and Alaskan Crepe Escape food cart reported they had been burglarized. Clothing, an iPad and other items were stolen from the coffee shop, according to an earlier JPD release. Amanda Kohan, owner of the Crepe Escape, told the Empire earlier this week that a cash register, the company’s iPad, cooking equipment and other items had been taken from her business.
When officers entered the Harris Street house Wednesday, according to the release, they found many of those missing items.
Police say they found clothing from The Grind in the house, as well as the iPad and a Honeywell safe from the Crepe Escape. The Crepe Escape burglary was reported May 6, while The Grind burglary was reported May 7, according to the JPD release.
On May 7, police arrested Joseph Yaletchko in connection with the coffee shop burglary. Yaletchko, a 47-year-old Juneau resident, was arrested for second-degree burglary and second-degree theft (both charges are class C felonies), according to the release. According to online court records, Yaletchko was still in custody as of Friday.
Charging documents alleged Yaletchko was wearing a Grind Coffee shirt at the time when police found him at the downtown transit center that day. According to the indictment, Yaletchko told police he had put the garbage bags near dumpsters by the Mount Roberts Tramway and left. When he returned a little while later, Yaletchko said, he saw a garbage truck picking up the garbage bags that contained the stolen goods, according to the indictment.
He was taken to Lemon Creek Correctional Center. The case is still under investigation, the release stated, and it was not stated whether Yaletchko is also suspected in the Crepe Escape burglary.
The residence is owned by James and Kathleen Barrett, the former owners of the Bergmann Hotel and two other properties in the immediate area. Law enforcement officials have searched the Harris Street house before, as recently as August 2017.
Barrett was one of at least 11 people — five men and five women besides him — who were being questioned by officers as other officers searched the house.
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
