The Kenai Courthouse is seen Monday, July 3, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

The Kenai Courthouse is seen Monday, July 3, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Man convicted in Homer-area home invasions sentenced to 18 years following probation violations

He was convicted in 2020 of nine felony charges, across five separate cases

Dellan Vanbuskirk, 38, who in 2020 was convicted of nine felony charges stemming from five separate cases, was sentenced late last month to 18 years and 145 days in prison for new charges and violations of felony probation.

According to a press release from the State Department of Law, Vanbuskirk was convicted of first-degree robbery, three counts of first-degree burglary, first-degree theft, second-degree theft, felony failure to stop and felon in possession of a firearm in May 2020. He was released from jail later that year and placed on felony probation for five years, with 21 years of suspended jail time.

According to an affidavit by Alaska State Troopers dated Oct. 17, 2021, Vanbuskirk was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over in Kasilof. The trooper noticed “drug paraphernalia” in the vehicle and requested backup.

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Vanbuskirk fled, the affidavit says, into the woods but was captured by troopers. They found that he had an active arrest warrant and was not allowed to travel outside of Anchorage. He had a loaded pistol and multiple quantities of different drugs.

Prior to that arrest, the release says that Vanbuskirk had been arrested for a separate violation of probation but had cut his ankle monitor and fled state custody.

Vanbuskirk was found guilty, in a December trial at the Kenai Courthouse, of felon in possession of a firearm, third-degree escape, providing false information, misconduct involving a controlled substance and violating conditions of release.

The department release says Vanbuskirk is sentenced to nine years and 145 days in prison for the new charges, and an additional nine years for violation of felony probation.

According to previous reporting by the Homer News, Vanbuskirk from 2016 to 2018 was charged with and accused of several Homer- and Anchor Point-area robberies and burglaries.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.

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