A Washington man was found allegedly carrying $15,000 worth of methamphetamine in a backpack aboard the Southeast Alaska ferry system on Monday morning.
Charging documents said that Alaska State Troopers got a call around 6:45 a.m. Monday from the Alaska Marine Highway System regarding "suspected drug activity" involving Kenneth R. Bradley of Washington state and his traveling companion aboard the M/V Kennecott heading from Bellingham, Wash., to Ketchikan.
Troopers found that Bradley, 49, had an outstanding warrant out for his arrest for a 1996 reckless endangerment charge in Anchorage. When the ferry reached the Ketchikan terminal, troopers boarded the ship and arrested him.
Just before his arrest, Bradley tried to discard a glass "crack pipe," which was located where he had been standing moments before, the charges said. Bradley allegedly admitted the pipe was his, and said he had been smoking crack cocaine prior to boarding the ferry. A test of the pipe came back positive for cocaine, according to the charging documents.
Bradley carried two black backpacks aboard the ferry. He told troopers that they belonged to his traveling companion and he just had clothing in the bags, while his companion said the bags belonged to Bradley. A K-9 sniffed the backpacks and indicated there were controlled substances inside, so troopers obtained a search warrant for the bags.
Inside one of the bags, troopers found a cellophane-wrapped ball hidden among socks and clothes. Inside the ball was a bag containing more than two ounces of a substance identified as methamphetamine, along with 32 small plastic baggies, each containing suspected meth. Troopers weighed four of the baggies and found each contained a third of a gram of the suspected drug. The total estimated value of all the seized drugs was $15,000, according to the charging documents.
Bradley was charged with two felony counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance, and faces an arraignment in Ketchikan.
Bradley has 20 Oregon felony convictions between 1997 and 2004, a felony warrant out for his arrest in California for "dangerous drugs" in 2007, a felony conviction in Washington for controlled substances in 2008, and 24 misdemeanor convictions in Alaska between 1983 and 1994, the charging documents said.