An Anchorage man is being held at Fairbanks Correctional Center after he was denied entry into Canada and arrested on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border over the weekend.
Alaska State Troopers say 61-year-old Terry Sharkey was first arrested by Royal Canadian Mounted Police after he was denied entry into Canada due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. An Alaska State Trooper spokesperson didn’t have any information about the incident this morning and couldn’t say whether Sharkey was charged by Canadian authorities.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police did not return phone calls Monday morning.
A Trooper report says RCMP officers transported Sharkey from the Canadian Customs port of entry at Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory, to the U.S. Customs facility about 20 miles away at Port Alcan, in Alaska, about 300 miles south of Fairbanks.
There, Sharkey refused to identify himself to the Customs officers and was detained. The report says the officers offered to release him because they had no facilities to hold him. But the report says he again refused to leave.
Troopers responded to a call from customs at around 9:30 a.m. about a “hostile subject,” and arrested Sharkey for second-degree trespassing. He was taken to the Tok Trooper post, where officers again offered to release him, but he again refused. Troopers then transported him to Fairbanks Correctional Center.
A Fairbanks Correctional booking office staffer said on Monday that Sharkey was still being held but was scheduled to be released on his own recognizance, possibly later in the day Monday.
This story was updated Monday afternoon with new details.
Tim Ellis is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
