JUNEAU POLICE DEPARTMENT
6255 ALAWAY AVENUE JUNEAU, ALASKA 99801
Business (907) 586-0600
Fax (907) 463-4808
Integrity, Courage, Service, Respect
INFORMATION RELEASE
Date: 2023-02-18
From: Lieutenant Krag Campbell
Case or Incident: #2023-02100017
On 02/10/2023, at about 8:15 a.m., Fred Meyer staff reported the theft of $32,000.00 in cash from the store's safe. Security footage showed an unknown male enter Fred Meyer through the employee entrance around 2:50 a.m. that morning. The male walks to where the safe is kept in the store. The male uses a passcode to deactivate the security alarm for the area and then opens the safe. The male then removes a large amount of cash from the safe, reactivates the alarm, and leaves Fred Meyer. 34-year-old Juneau resident Ryan Christopher Otness was identified as a person of interest in the theft. Otness is a former employee of Fred Meyer.
On 02/17/2023, Otness was contacted by police while leaving a residence in the 2500 block of Vista Drive and getting into a vehicle, registered to him. Otness was placed under arrest for Burglary in the 2nd degree, a class C felony, and Theft in the 1st degree, a class B felony. At the time of his arrest, approximately $5,580 in cash was located in the vehicle.
Otness was taken to the Lemon Creek Correctional Center.
All factual allegations contained in this release are based upon preliminary investigation and are subject to change or clarification as the investigation continues. Any charges reported in this release are merely accusations and all persons named in this release are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.