Alaska State Troopers say a major heroin bust involving two arrests in Anchorage and the seizure of $400,000 worth of the drug started with an investigation into Matanuska-Susitna Borough-area trafficking.
A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted 37-year-old Seneca Neal of Anchorage and 40-year-old Lamon Washington of Fairbanks on charges of distribution and conspiracy to distribute more than a kilogram of heroin, according to a troopers online release posted Thursday morning. Both have been arrested and remain in custody.
Troopers said their Mat-Su drug unit -- with cooperation from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- in September started investigating the source of heroin in the borough. Authorities there link the rise in the drug's use to a spike in thefts and home break-ins.
The team identified several suspects and seized 48 grams of heroin in late October, according to the dispatch. Investigators served a search warrant in Wasilla and ultimately seized 266 grams of the drug.
The investigation identified a source in Anchorage who supplied heroin to suspects in Wasilla and Fairbanks, troopers said. Troopers and DEA agents on Nov. 19 seized 141 grams of heroin and more than $17,000 cash in Fairbanks. The Mat-Su drug unit seized another 445 grams of heroin, $980 cash and a "custom truck" after serving a warrant on Arctic Boulevard in Anchorage.
Neal and Washington were each charged with five counts stemming from the heroin bust, according to the indictment. Both were charged with drug conspiracy to distribute at least 1 kilogram of heroin.
The indictment alleges the two men conspired to distribute heroin sometime during or before April, continuing through November.
Washington also faces a felony controlled substance charge from a case filed in November, online court records show.
The indictment does not provide information regarding evidence against the men; however, petitions filed in older court cases describe activities leading up to the indictment, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports.
Alaska State Troopers began investigating Neal in Oct. 2013, after investigators were told he had been selling cocaine. Troopers received information that Washington had likewise been dealing cocaine in Fairbanks. Both men had admitted to selling cocaine in past years, and both had served prison time, the News-Miner reports.
Along with Neal and Washington, troopers say they have identified additional suspects and they are forwarding charges for prosecution.
First assistant U.S. attorney and chief of the criminal division Kevin Feldis declined to comment on how many additional suspects had been identified.
Heroin on the rise
Heroin is becoming more prevalent in Alaska, law enforcement officials say.
"The use of heroin is on the rise nationwide and that same unfortunate trend seems to be true in Alaska," said Feldis.
In early November, law enforcement officials seized 50 pounds of heroin in an alleged large-scale drug trafficking conspiracy, the largest bust the state has ever seen, Feldis said. The drugs' wholesale value was estimated at $2.34 million, according to assistant U.S. attorney Stephanie Courter.
Increasing heroin usage is not confined to urban areas; the drug is being found in numerous villages in Western Alaska, officials say. In early December, Nome police arrested a star of reality TV show "Bering Sea Gold" as part of a heroin investigation. That bust was part of a yearlong effort to combat heroin usage in the Western Alaska community.
In January, the Kodiak Police Department seized $120,000 worth of drugs, including black tar heroin, which KPD Chief Ronda Wallace said had never been seized before in the island community. Heroin is "becoming a big problem," Wallace told Alaska Dispatch News.
Feldis said the increase in heroin nationally is due in part to a trend away from illegally obtained opiate pills, such as OxyContin. "Some of those pill users have converted to heroin users," Feldis said.
In Alaska, illegal substances fetch a higher price that in the Lower 48. "There is, unfortunately, some incentive to bring drugs up here," Feldis said.
Heroin is a highly addictive opiate typically sold as white or brownish powder or as a black sticky substance.
"One of the things we're trying to do ... is not only stop the drug traffickers, but raise awareness throughout our communities that this is serious, this is dangerous and it's very addictive," Feldis said.