An Anchorage man was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison this week for drug trafficking and placing swastika stickers at numerous locations across town in 2021.
Investigators first contacted Luke Foster in November 2021 through an Instagram account where he posted about psilocybin mushrooms, an illegal hallucinogenic drug, according to a sworn affidavit written by an FBI agent and included with federal charges against him. An undercover FBI agent messaged Foster, who is now 28, and purchased drugs from him several times, the affidavit said.
FBI agents obtained and executed a search warrant on Foster’s home, vehicle and person, the affidavit said. During the search, they found suspected drugs, firearms, cash and swastika stickers, the affidavit said.
The same stickers had appeared around Anchorage earlier that year, plastered on the Alaska Jewish Museum and Mad Myrna’s, a gay bar in downtown Anchorage, among other locations. Surveillance video showed a man placing the stickers on the museum, and police asked the public for help identifying the suspect.
The distinct stickers were emblazoned with the words “WE ARE EVERYWHERE.” The stickers also appeared on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus, at Planned Parenthood, at a bank, on an electrical box and on a vehicle, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Klugman. The stickers reappeared at the Alaska Jewish Museum in September, and a swastika was carved into the door, the memorandum said.
Foster was arrested on the federal drug trafficking charges in November 2021, and two misdemeanor charges of damage to religious property were added this April. He pleaded guilty to distribution of controlled substances and the two property damage charges in April.
The hate crimes were especially harmful to Anchorage because they “sowed fear and distrust far beyond the physical damage (Foster) caused,” Klugman wrote in the memorandum. The federal public defender representing Foster could not immediately be reached Wednesday.
Foster was sentenced Tuesday to spend 18 months in federal prison for the offenses.