PALMER — Since the conditions of his release weren’t clear, a judge has ruled that a man accused of stealing $114,500 in copper cable could stay in Washington while his case moves forward.

Bob Ristick was one of three people arrested for felony theft in the case, which came to light three weeks ago. The other two were an associate of Ristick’s, Robert Stevens, and an employee of Matanuska Telephone Association, Howard Tesham. The copper wire in question was property of MTA and police investigators managed to intercept it before it was shipped to Washington state to be recycled.

In order to get out of jail, Ristick posted $100,000 bail in cash. He appeared at the Friday hearing by phone from his home in Puyallup, Wash. At the hearing, Assistant District Attorney Allison Collins asked Superior Court Judge Eric Smith to order Ristick to come back to Alaska and forfeit his bail. She said there was a bail condition placed on Ristick that he not leave the state. Since he was in Washington, Collins argued, he was therefore in violation of his bail conditions.

But Smith said he wasn’t so sure. At a previous hearing, Superior Court Judge Vanessa White had modified Ristick’s bail conditions, removing the requirement that he have a third party appointed to watch over him before he could be released. Smith said he listened to that hearing before coming to court Friday.

“I’m very aware of what she said and, for better or for worse, what she didn’t say,” Smith said.

Smith said that, on the recording, White didn’t mention anything regarding the condition that Ristick not leave the state. That condition was something a judge in Juneau put on Ristick’s bail shortly after his arrest. Ristick and Stevens were apprehended in Juneau on a Palmer police warrant for the copper theft.

For her part, Collins said White’s order was clear.

“Judge White was very clear that all she was doing was removing the third party custodian requirement,” Collins said. The fear all along was that Ristick would leave the state, she said, and now he has done that.

On the other side, Ristick’s attorney, Phillip Weidner, argued that the state’s case amounted to a business dispute, is full of holes and he intended to win the legal fight that was about to ensue. He also said the $100,000 bail is excessive.

As to White’s order, he said he read it a different way.

“Her order that went to the jail said $100,000 bail and that’s it,” Weidner said. “It would be a gross miscarriage of justice to force him to maintain some sort of a residence here in Palmer” while the case winds its way through the legal system.

Smith seemed to see both attorneys’ points.

“My finding, frankly, is that the matter is confusing,” Smith said. “I can understand why both parties read what (judge White) said the way that they did.”

He ordered Weidner to get his client to sign a waiver of extradition, a document making it much easier to bring someone back to Alaska from out of state. And then he made clear to Ristick what he required of him — that he must attend court hearings, by phone or otherwise, when his presence is required.

“You’re on notice. You’ve got zero tolerance on this one,” Smith said.

   

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.