One Sitka man is going to prison for six months and another is facing felony charges for receiving heroin through the mail.
30-year old Dustin Daley pleaded guilty in Sitka Superior Court last week to one count of Attempted Misconduct Involving a Controlled Substance in the fourth degree, a class A misdemeanor.
According to court records, law enforcement officers including Sitka police, Alaska State Troopers, and U.S. Postal Inspectors executed a search warrant on a package mailed to Daley last month. The package contained a pair of boots and a small clear plastic baggie with just over 12 grams of a black-tar substance that tested positive for heroin.
Daley was arrested after he went to the Post Office to collect the package. Although he initially admitted no knowledge of the contents, he changed his plea in court.
Judge David George sentenced him to 12 months in prison, with 6 suspended, and fined him $1,000. Daley will be on probation for 2 years at the conclusion of his prison time.
Daley may also be called upon to testify against a co-defendant, 38-year old Kristopher Foster.
A Sitka grand jury last Friday indicted Foster on one felony count of Misconduct Involving a Controlled Substance in the fourth degree, a class C felony.
According to court records, Foster allegedly accompanied Daley to the Lincoln St. Post Office to retrieve the package containing the heroin. Although Foster denied any knowledge of the contents of the package, he admitted to officers that he smoked heroin recreationally. Acting on information from the Harbor Department alleging drug trafficking, police obtained Foster’s consent to search his boat, the F/V Stardust, and found heroin paraphernalia and numerous baggies containing residue which tested positive for heroin.
Foster was arraigned on May 4 and released after posting a $4,000 bond.
In an unrelated matter, the Sitka grand jury also brought an indictment against a 32-year old Californian, Daniel M. Shane, on two counts of Misconduct Involving a Controlled Substance in the third degree, and one count in the fourth degree, for allegedly possessing methamphetamine and cocaine within 500 feet of a youth center, with intent to deliver.
According to court records, Shane, who is in his fourth season as a fishing deckhand in Sitka, was in the Andrews Street neighborhood in late April when an off-duty police detective noticed him acting erratically. The officer found that Shane had been driving a pickup truck, although his license had been revoked in California.
Other officers arrived to assist. A subsequent search of Shane’s backpack allegedly turned up numerous empty plastic baggies and a scale with a white crystalline residue.
Shane was arrested. A search of his clothing at the Sitka jail allegedly produced 0.5 grams of cocaine in his wallet, 2 grams total of methamphetamine in his jacket pocket and in his sock, and a glass smoking device.
Except for a DUI in California, Shane had no prior criminal record. Deckhanding in Sitka is his only employment. He posted bail of $2,500 and was released pending further proceedings.
