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After capture, a dozen show up for Young arraignment

KDLG

Held without bail until a Superior Court arraignment in Anchorage on Sept. 14 for alleged violations of felony probation. Community members present on account of suspected ties to heroin sales.

Christian Young, 24, of Anchorage was arrested quietly Tuesday evening by Dillingham police, and arraigned Wednesday morning on charges he has violated felony probation.

KDLG: An Anchorage man was arraigned Wednesday following his arrest Tuesday evening by Dillingham Police. Authorities had been looking for Christian Andre Young, 24, through the weekend, and a final tip helped them find him at a Nerka residence.

Young was sought in connection with a warrant in a robbery case, though authorities suspect he has been in town in connection to heroin sales for several weeks. Young was shackled in extra restraints and escorted by two state troopers.

The warrant called for a bail amount of $1000, but a new violation of unauthorized travel to Dillingham was added by an Anchorage probation officer. Based on that, Young will be held without bail until an arraignment on September 14 in Anchorage.

"Your honor, I only see the PTRP in front of me. Do I have any drug charges that have been brought up, because I think the media is strongly suggesting that I have drug charges, cause that's what everyone is under the impression," said Young.

"There have been no charges brought to ... all I have in front of me is a 2012 case, and there's a petition to revoke probation," said Magistrate Judge Tina Reigh.

"Ok, thank you, just for the record," he said.

About a dozen residents showed up for the routine arraignment.

"If I had a sign I'd stand out there and tell him that he's not a wanted person here in Dillingham," said Carol Luckhurst.

Luckhurst said the added presence Wednesday wasn’t necessarily about the defendant himself, but about a larger message that the community will keep pushing back.

"The people that are here, we're community members. My fight now is to get more of our tribal leaders and our city leaders more involved. Why couldn't they be here today? Showing a presence as a tribal or city leader that 'hey, I don't want this in my community'."

Luckhurst says she’s watched the drug problems get a lot worse in the last four or five years. She’s particularly concerned that young people are growing up normalized to the heroin abuse and the harm it's causing.

"I don't want my grandson, or somebody else's grandchildren thinking this is the way life is. It's not. There's so much more for all these young individuals. They have potential. And then they find themselves in this situation. I'm not saying everybody's involved in it, but there's a lot of people that have so much more that they could be doing than they're doing now."

Reach the author at dave@kdlg.org or 907.842.5281.