Feds: Goose Creek correctional officer tried to smuggle drugs to inmates

A prison guard at Goose Creek Correctional Center has been arrested on federal drug charges after the FBI says the guard admitted he tried to smuggle heroin and marijuana into the prison for inmates this week.

Court records show Adam Jason Spindler, 32, is charged with possessing a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, as well as conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and to possess it with the intent to distribute.

According to a criminal complaint against Spindler written by FBI Special Agent Richard Fuller, the state Department of Corrections earlier this month asked the bureau to investigate suspicions that Spindler — a night-shift guard at Goose Creek since April 2013 — was "smuggling drugs into GCCC for distribution to inmates."

At about 4:45 p.m. Monday, Fuller said a surveillance unit saw "a suspected female drug courier" briefly enter and exit Spindler's vehicle outside a Wasilla McDonald's restaurant. Spindler then drove to Goose Creek for his 6 p.m. shift, but stopped in the parking lot to speak with a fellow correctional officer whose shift was ending, identified in the complaint only as CO-1.

As a Department of Corrections K-9 vehicle sat in the lot, Fuller said Spindler told the other officer he was carrying recreational marijuana, which he didn't want the dog to detect.

"CO-1 offered to take the marijuana and get rid of it for Spindler," Fuller wrote. "Spindler gave CO-1 a bag, which CO-1 thought contained only personal use marijuana."

Security staff at Goose Creek detained Spindler when he entered the prison and searched his personal effects, while the K-9 unit and FBI agents searched his vehicle. Although the dog indicated the presence of drugs inside the vehicle, none were found in either search.

Shortly afterward, however, CO-1 called to say he had just heard from fellow prison staff of the FBI searching Spindler's vehicle. He reported the bag Spindler had given him — as well as his suspicion, on closer examination, that it also contained heroin.

"GCCC personnel used (a narcotics test) on the drugs and obtained positive results for the probable presence of heroin and marijuana," Fuller wrote. "The heroin weighed approximately 1.67 grams, an amount that is consistent with the intent to distribute, and the marijuana weighed approximately .515 grams."

When FBI agents spoke with Spindler, he corroborated CO-1's account, saying he was "spooked" by the presence of the K-9 unit, according to Fuller.

"Spindler admitted that he intended to distribute the drugs inside GCCC to an inmate," Fuller wrote.

An Alaska inmate database listed Spindler in custody at the Anchorage Jail Wednesday morning.

At a Wednesday press conference in Anchorage, U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler declined to answer most questions about the Spindler case, but said nobody else has yet been charged in the ongoing investigation.

Loeffler said the case was being prosecuted in federal case because it involved "public corruption."

"We step in because we have a part with our federal agencies, and we want to make our communities safe," Loeffler said. "When you have a public servant that's acting illegally, that's public corruption."

DOC Commissioner Dean Williams called Wednesday both a "difficult day" and a "fantastic day" for the department, citing Spindler's alleged betrayal of the public trust as well as the coordinated effort by federal and state agencies that led to his arrest.

"One of our correctional officers sort of went to the dark side, and he's now behind the walls he was responsible for guarding during his career," Williams said. "The level of cooperation between this department and the (FBI) shows the way forward for us."

Corey Allen-Young, a DOC spokesperson, said the case against Spindler was the result of a tip to the department's two-month-old Professional Conduct Unit. The three-person unit is charged with investigating a variety of issues ranging from ethical concerns to staff complaints within DOC, but focuses on potential criminal matters.

"This information was developed quite frankly as a result of our unit that just stood up," Allen-Young said. "This is something that's a priority, to stop the spread of drugs in the institutions."

Williams said he was studying similar correctional internal-affairs units in Montana and other states, because they "make sure that I as commissioner am dealing with employees fairly and equitably."

"I want everyone handled the same way I would want to be treated myself," Williams said.

According to Loeffler, the heroin seized in the Spindler case is worth $50 to $100 on Anchorage streets, although its value would likely be higher behind bars. If Spindler is convicted, he could face a maximum 20-year sentence in connection with the heroin.

Allen-Young said in an email DOC has placed Spindler, whose only posting with the department was at Goose Creek, on administrative leave.

"Since Mr. Spindler has not been convicted of his alleged crime, being placed on administrative leave is the normal protocol," Allen-Young wrote.

Visitors to Goose Creek have also been accused of trying to bring drugs into the prison in the past, with Wasilla woman Tiffany Becker arrested in January on state drug charges. Last year another woman, Gwendoline Maka, was arrested after troopers said two inmates — Mavaega Tautua and Aaron Aasa — told her how to smuggle drugs into Goose Creek, a scheme tracked by prison officials who monitored their phone calls.