Crime & Courts

Troopers arrest two, seize $56,000 of heroin in small Southeast Alaska village

Alaska State Troopers arrested two woman in Klawock Saturday after a search warrant turned up $56,000 worth of heroin, digital scales and cash inside a house in the small Southeast Alaska community.

Alaska State Troopers, the Craig Police Department and the Klawock Police Department together "executed a search warrant" at a home on 470 Summit Street in Klawock at 10 p.m. on Saturday, troopers wrote in an online dispatch Sunday.

Police found 56 grams of heroin, "multiple digital scales, electronics and cash" at the home. They arrested Gae Yates, 58, of Klawock and Armetta Barden, 60, of Seattle.

Klawock is home to about 750 people.

Both women are charged with second degree drug misconduct.

"More charges are anticipated," troopers wrote.

The Alaska State Troopers statewide drug enforcement unit has warned of drug distribution rings aggressively working to import heroin into small, far-flung Alaska communities.

Two months ago troopers made a similar-sized bust in the Bristol Bay village of Togiak, confiscating 56 grams of heroin from 32-year-old Patrick Einhellig.

Michelle Theriault Boots

Michelle Theriault Boots is a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She focuses on in-depth stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. Before joining the ADN in 2012, she worked at daily newspapers up and down the West Coast and earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon.

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