Bail has been set at $1 million for the alleged shooter in a weekend assault that left a Sitka woman hospitalized with bullet wounds in both legs.
At least five other people face felony charges for various roles in the incident, which the local magistrate called “the most dangerous and extreme behavior to come through her court.”
At her arraignment Tuesday afternoon, Christina Quintana, 32, pleaded not guilty to a pair felony counts of first-degree assault for allegedly shooting Jamie Kane in both legs — in a conflict that Sitka police say is deeply enmeshed in local drug culture.
According to the criminal complaint, Quintana is one of four people who met Kane as she and her boyfriend returned from the grocery store Sunday evening to their home at 3302 Halibut Point Road.
An accomplice identified as Peter Krovina, 39, allegedly pointed a shotgun in Kane’s face and ordered the couple inside.
Quintana then allegedly struck Kane in the head with a 10 mm pistol, then used the same weapon to shoot her in both legs.
Krovina was apprehended by Sitka police mid-Wednesday afternoon with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force and Alaska State Troopers, who flew into Sitka late Tuesday evening.
Based on the warrant for his arrest, he faces charges of first-, second- and third-degree assault for his role both as an accomplice and for using a weapon himself.
Seven individuals were arraigned in Sitka District Court Tuesday afternoon on charges connected to the incident — though not all were felonies.
Andrea Avalos, 23, was charged as an accomplice, for arriving earlier in a vehicle driven Holly Chambers, 25, and removing Kane’s three young children, on the pretense of taking them for ice cream.
According to the criminal complaint, the downtown soda fountain was closed, so she abandoned them at the nearby Mean Queen restaurant (with their 15-year old babysitter) and returned to the scene.
Bail for Avalos was set at $500,000.
Chambers also has been charged as an accomplice, but was not arrested.
Police expect her to appear voluntarily in court.
Both Quintana and Avalos reportedly flew into Sitka on March 16, just two days prior to the Sunday shooting.
They have New Mexico drivers licenses.
Quintana has three active felony warrants: one in California, and two in New Mexico.
According to the criminal complaint, airfare for Quintana and Avalos was paid by Eric Morisky.
Sitka Police Lt. Lance Ewers said the pair were in town as enforcers in illegal activity.
“Their sole purpose here, in our town of Sitka, based on what I’m gathering during the course of this investigation, is that they’ve come here to create hate and discontent, and to intimidate local people who live here, and to work as the muscle behind the drug trade.”
Quintana and Avalos were located Monday, along with Morisky and two other Sitka women, aboard the yacht Rubato in Crescent Harbor.
The criminal complaint states that they had been squatting there without the permission of the boat’s owners.
Everyone surrendered peacefully, except Quintana and Avalos, who came out only after Ewers said police resorted to “chemical munitions.”
“They definitely shot somebody already once, and we don’t know if they still have guns. So who wants to go climbing aboard a giant yacht to get them off the boat, right? That would be super-dangerous. So what we did was use a riot-control grenade and introduced CS (tear) gas, and it worked like a charm. They came off of that boat and gave up, and were taken into custody without incident.”
Police subsequently searched the boat and found 36 grams of methamphetamine in the forward cabin.
Sitka Magistrate Rachel Jones agreed with the state’s argument for high bail for both Quintana and Avalos.
Of Quintana, the magistrate said, “This is the most extreme and dangerous behavior I’ve seen come through this court. The amount of drugs are dangerous. The violent behaviors. Children were involved. The need to gas them out. Warrants out in other states. And it happened only a few days after they arrived.”
According to the criminal complaint, Porter Treadway, 36, was also present during the shooting. He was charged as an accomplice, with bail was set at $15,000.
His wife, Cocoa Fudge, was charged with felony vehicle theft.
Other defendants answering charges — but who were uninvolved in the shooting were:
- Morisky, 30, who was charged with one felony count of misconduct involving a controlled substance in the second degree and one count of misdemeanor drug possession.
- Alesa Rose Williams, 26, who was charged with misdemeanor drug possession and violating conditions of release for being aboard a boat in Crescent Harbor.
- Janet Joseph, who was charged with violating conditions of release.
Jamie Kane, the victim named in the complaints, has not been charged. She was medevacked to Anchorage for additional treatment. Sitka police consider the investigation ongoing and active.
View the complete list of charges here. Not everyone named in this daily log from the Alaska Trial Courts is connected to incidents described in the story.
