Friday’s drug bust in East Anchorage happened as most do, with undercover police officers buying drugs from a suspected dealer.

Anchorage police arrested Laura Johnson, 39, and Alex Tejeda, 33, who now face felony charges in connection with a sizable illegal drug seizure that took place at a residence located on the 5700 block of Rocky Mountain Court.

APD’s Special Assignment Unit “utilized an informant” to arrange a drug purchase, where Johnson provided approximately 8.4 grams of heroin and 14 grams of methamphetamine in exchange for $2,750, according to charging documents.

After the drug transaction, Johnson drove away from the area. Police stopped the vehicle and arrested her, confiscating a portion of the funds used for the transaction that were in her jacket pocket, charging documents say. Dime bags containing small amounts of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine were also found in the vehicle.

Prior to the planned transaction between APD and Johnson, as the unit was conducting surveillance in the area, a male driving a gold sedan arrived at the residence and dropped off a bag, charging documents say. He left before the transaction.

After the transaction, officers spotted the gold sedan again and conducted a traffic stop. The driver — later identified as Tejeda — fled on foot, tossing items as he ran. Officers were able to take him into custody and recovered his wallet, along with multiple bags of illegal drugs that appeared to be packaged for sale. Police uncovered more drugs in the trunk of the sedan, the documents say.

In total, APD’s Special Assignment Unit seized more than 800 grams of illegal drugs from the residence:

• 683 grams of methamphetamine, carrying a total street value of up to $98,000
• 101 grams of cocaine, carrying a total street value of up to $9,000
• 24 grams of heroin, carrying a total street value of up to $4,200

Added up, the confiscated drugs carry a street value of approximately $111,000.

Neighbors, like Josh Gibbs, are expressing relief over Friday’s drug bust. Gibbs says he’s lived in the neighborhood for about two years. When asked if there was a prevalent drug problem in the neighborhood, Gibbs said yes.

“Every day, you know,” he said. “But I go to work, come home, and that’s what I’m responsible for.”

Still, Gibbs says, he’s disappointed.

“I can’t believe stuff like that happens in this neighborhood,” he said. “It’s a shame, and I’m happy they’re off the streets.”

APD spokeswoman Jennifer Castro says the drug ring supplied narcotics to about 100 people in the Anchorage area. Friday’s bust is expected to disrupt that distribution.

“If you’re able to hit that retailer, shut it down, then its obviously gonna cause a disruption, kind of a domino effect elsewhere,” said Castro.

Johnson and Tejeda have been charged with multiple counts of second -and third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance in connection with the narcotics found. Johnson’s bail was set at $75,000. No bail was set for Tejeda as he is currently on federal probation.

APD is asking anyone with information on this case to call police dispatch at 786-8900 or Crime Stoppers — to remain anonymous — at 561-STOP.

A 59-year-old Kodiak man died after he was allegedly stabbed by a man who says the fatal injury was an accident.

On Sunday, the Kodiak Police Department responded to a reported stabbing at a Kodiak home along Ole Johnson Avenue. When officers arrived at the residence, they found Dennis Fathke on the floor, not breathing. First responders began CPR, and Fathke was taken to Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center and declared deceased, according to a statement from KPD.

Authorities spoke with 44-year-old Telia Tofelogo, who was inside the home when police responded. According to Tofelogo, he was “joking around” with Fathke, who was lying on a bed, leading up to the stabbing, KPD said.

“Tofelogo described how he and Fathke had been laughing at Tofelogo’s ‘ninja moves’ with a 12 inch curved knife,” the KPD statement says.

Tofelogo said he had his back to Fathke, and “when he spun around with the knife, not realizing Fathke had stood up, he stabbed him in the upper left arm,” according to the statement. An investigation revealed the knife pierced his left arm, continued into his chest and punctured his left lung.

When Tofelogo realized he had stabbed the 59-year-old, he says he pulled the knife out and called 911, KPD said.

Tofelogo was arrested and charged with manslaughter and first-degree assault, both of which are felonies. The police department declined to comment further on the case, citing an ongoing investigation.

The skipper of a 152-foot landing craft has been charged with driving under the influence after he allegedly grounded the vessel while “highly intoxicated,” police say.

Sunday evening, the Kodiak Police Department received a call from a crewmember of the Polar Bear who said that Capt. Edward Dyer, 50, was intoxicated when he grounded the vessel, according to a statement from KPD.

The Polar Bear was spotted aground on Gull Island, near the Kodiak Harbor. When authorities boarded the Polar Bear and located Dyer, he “was found to be highly intoxicated not realizing the vessel was aground,” the police statement says.

No fuel is believed to have leaked from the Polar Bear, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Authorities helped drop the Polar Bear’s anchors and took Dyer to land. He was arrested and charged with driving under the influence, reckless endangerment and fourth-degree assault, all of which are misdemeanors. KPD declined to release more information about the case, saying that an investigation is ongoing.

The Coast Guard released the vessel Monday and its owner almost made it through a channel before the landing craft ran aground again, said Petty Officer 1st Class Kelly Parker. The Polar Bear was eventually re-floated and anchored up.

A Juneau grand jury has indicted an 18-year-old driver involved in a fatal car crash.

The Juneau Empire (http://bit.ly/1qspnuW) reports William M. Buchkoski was indicted on four felony counts in the March 26 death of a passenger in his sport utility vehicle, 18-year-old Jessica Louise Billy.

Investigators say Buchkoski was driving on Yandukin Drive near Juneau International Airport and attempted a left turn onto Old Dairy Road but did not yield to a semi. The big truck T-boned the SUV.

A second passenger, 20-year-old Shadd Rudick, was critically injured and remains at a rehabilitation center in Everett, Washington.

The grand jury indicted Buchkoski on manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and two felony assault counts.

He will be arraigned Dec. 17. Online court records did not indicate that he had an attorney.

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Information from: Juneau (Alaska) Empire, http://www.juneauempire.com

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Following an autopsy, the State Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled that a 54-year-old woman who was reported missing in September was the victim of a homicide, police say.

The exact details of how Irma Williams died are being withheld, the Anchorage Police Department said in a statement Thursday. Williams was first reported missing Sept. 30 when family members told authorities they had not seen her in weeks, which was unusual behavior, they said.

In mid-October, her body was discovered near the Mountain View Lions Park — an area she was known to frequent — and police began investigating her death as a homicide.

No arrests have been made and an investigation is ongoing. APD asks anyone with information regarding Williams’ whereabouts leading up to her disappearance to contact them at 786-8900. To remain anonymous, you may call Crime Stoppers at 561-STOP or submit your tip at anchoragecrimestoppers.com.

Friends of Kristen Reid believe the 30-year-old woman wanted to end her relationship with Bukurim Miftari the night she ran into him at an Anchorage strip club more than two years ago.

“They didn’t really get along that well,” said Reid’s friend, Caren Bennett.

Thursday, she fought back tears as she talked about the last night she saw her friend.

Bennett recalls that night — Sept. 16, 2012 — not just because she and Reid attended a friend’s birthday at the Great Alaska Bush Company, but because of something she says Miftari told her.

“He said to me, ‘Have you ever thought about shooting someone you loved?” Bennett recalled during the first day of testimony in Miftari’s murder trial.

Prosecutors said Reid later went to a friend’s house, then left with Miftari after he showed up and drew a gun.

Anchorage police found Reid lying naked in a ditch along Fairbanks Street the next morning. Someone had shot her in the head, and she later died at a local hospital.

Reid may have been a good friend, but, she also led a troubled life friends said they did not know.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys raised that issue during their opening statements to jurors,

“She had a husband at the time, he was away serving a sentence in jail,” said assistant district attorney Laura Dulic. “She was a drug dealer.”

Defense lawyer George Dozier believes Reid’s background will help show someone else murdered her.

Miftari could spend the rest of his life in prison is he’s convicted of the charges.

The man who shut down an Anchorage neighborhood in a standoff with police Wednesday night appeared in court Thursday.

Marlon Arellano, 44, is charged with two counts of third-degree assault and one count of attempted burglary. The charges are class C felonies. The victim’s mother spoke to the court by phone. She told the judge Arellano chased her 15-year-old daughter around with knives, threatening to kill her.

She called him a threat to society, but Arellano spoke out and said he loved her.

The judge set bail at $20,000, and Arellano is scheduled to be back in court next Tuesday.

State prosecutors have filed a felony theft charge against a former University of Alaska employee suspected of taking more than $4,000 in university airlines miles and credits for personal use.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://bit.ly/1uK4ObW) reports an auditor in January noticed irregularities in an Alaska Airlines EasyBiz account that 39-year-old Jennifer Lynn Mahler administrated for the statewide Office of Human Resources.

A complaint filed by UA Fairbanks Police deputy chief Stephen Goetz says auditors found that Mahler used the account for personal and family travel.

Goetz says Mahler used $2,697 in credits and $1,512 in miles without UA permission.

Goetz says Mahler repaid the university and said she mixed up personal account information with the university travel account.

Online court records do not indicate that she’s represented by an attorney.

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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Five teenagers have been indicted in connection with an escape plot at the Kenai Peninsula Youth Facility that injured two unarmed guards.

The Peninsula Clarion (http://is.gd/5XKkos) reports 18-year-old Cody Rosenthal and four 16-year-old boys are charged with assault, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and riot in the Nov. 7 incident. Authorities say one of the juveniles placed a guard in a choke-hold until he went unconscious.

Rosenthal and two minors also are charged with escape. The two other minors are charged with attempted escape.

According to online records, Rosenthal is represented by the state Public Defender Agency, which did not immediately return a call seeking comment Friday.

The minors are charged as adults, but The Associated Press does not typically name juveniles charged with crimes.

Authorities say Rosenthal was quickly caught, and two of the minors did not leave the facility. Two others remained at large before being arrested in Nikiski the following day.

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Information from: (Kenai, Alaska) Peninsula Clarion, http://www.peninsulaclarion.com

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

An imprisoned former chiropractor and gun dealer from Fairbanks has been accused of attempting to solicit the murder of federal officers while behind bars.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://goo.gl/VVMn92 ) reports Guy Christopher Mannino, 56, has been in prison since Oct. 2013 awaiting sentencing for federal weapons charges.

The office of the U.S. Attorney says the solicitation attempt occurred between Sept. 8 and Nov. 6 of this year.

Mannino was charged with a single count of soliciting murder of several officials. That charge carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The charging document doesn’t say how many officers were threatened.

Last year Mannino was charged but never indicted with setting off a recreational explosive at a gun range. The shock wave from the blast damaged several homes.

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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

About 22 APD officers responded to a crowd of about 200 people at an “unsanctioned street party” at Fourth Avenue and D Street early Sunday morning.

Anchorage police responded to multiple incidents early Sunday morning, including an unruly street party and two isolated shootings.

Downtown street party

The first occurred at around 2:30 a.m., according to a release from the Anchorage Police Department. Police responded to a call that shots had been fired in the downtown area. Officers discovered a crowd of about 200 people at an “unsanctioned street party” at Fourth Avenue and D Street.

A Cadillac Escalade was parked in the area, police say, and officers told the vehicle’s owner to turn off the music. The crowd then became unruly toward police, causing the need for more APD officers, along with other law enforcement departments to assist in disbursing the crowd.

When officers told the vehicle owner to turn off the music, the crowd became unruly toward police. About 22 officers from APD responded as well as officers from the University Police Department and Airport Police Department to assist in clearing the streets. Officers armed themselves with riot gear, says APD spokeswoman Anita Shell.

“We have had incidences where officers have needed to have a line or formation, if you will, with their riot gear for their own protection and disperse a crowd,” said Shell, adding that it took about an hour to clear the scene. “It does not happen very often, but on rare occasions, it does happen.”

Shell says most of the partygoers left the area as directed, but two individuals who police say refused to cooperate were charged with failing to disperse and disorderly conduct.

University Area shooting

At around 4 a.m., police responded to calls that multiple shots had been fired in the University Area. When APD responded, they discovered that two homes, located about a block from each other, were struck by gunfire.

Police are reporting no injuries in the shooting but say there was damage done to both homes, one located at the 3800 block of Gardner Street and the other located at the 5200 block of Sharon Street (shown above).

One neighbor, Adrian Battle, says he came out of his Sharon Street residence to find that multiple vehicles were also hit by bullets at the residence next to his.

“A whole bunch of gunshots and a whole bunch of banging, pretty much, and glass breaking is all we heard this morning,” he said. “The first thing I thought about was my son, make sure he’s ok.”

Battle, who’s lived in the neighborhood about seven months, says it’s usually quiet and incidents like Sunday morning’s shooting aren’t frequent.

Spenard house party shooting

Minutes after the University area shooting, at around 4:07 a.m., police responded to another call that shots had been fired in the area of Wyoming Drive and Oregon Drive.

When police responded to the disturbance call, they discovered about two dozen teens at a house party. Police say the suspected shooters had already fled the scene and their whereabouts are unknown at this time.

Officers issued numerous citations to teens for underage consumption and arrested two individuals.

“Pool of blood” at Sixth Avenue Chevron

At around 4:30 a.m., APD received a call from someone saying they found blood, broken glass and shell casings in the alley behind the Chevron gas station, located at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Ingra Street.

When officers responded, they found a “pool of blood” but no victim, APD says.

“Somebody was injured back there last night,” Shell said, based on the findings.

Patient with possible gunshot wound

About 40 minutes after APD responded to the gas station on Sixth Avenue, a man showed up to a local hospital with what police suspect is a gunshot would to the hand.

The man, however, says the injury was from a nail gun, according to APD.

“Officers believe it’s actually that he was the victim of a shooting and that wound is actually a gunshot wound,” Shell said. “We don’t believe he was truthful to the police and that for whatever reason, he did not want to tell us what actually happened.”

Shell says it is unknown if the man may have been a victim of one of the earlier shootings or if this was a separate, unreported incident. His injuries are not life threatening, APD says.

Police are encouraging anyone with information on these incidents to call APD at 786-8900 or Crime Stoppers at 561-STOP.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

A 38-year-old Wasilla man was sentenced to 7.5 years in federal prison for the part he played in a heroin trafficking conspiracy.

Baretta Faatafuga pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute more than 1.6 kilograms of heroin, with a street value of $550,000, around the Anchorage area, according to a statement from the Alaska U.S. Attorney’s Office.

As part of his plea deal, Faatafuga admitted to receiving a package from California that contained heroin in October 2013. He intended to distribute the drug, the statement says.

Faatafuga and his co-defendant also possessed drug packaging materials, a scale, multiple cell phones and laptops and $5,000 in cash. He also had two firearms that officers found stored in his bedroom on the night of his arrest. These findings played a factor into Faatafuga’s sentencing, says Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Courter, with Faatafuga agreeing to forfeit the guns and cash as part of his guilty plea.

At the sentencing, Judge Sharon L. Gleason indicated that Faatafuga’s sentence was “designed to address the seriousness of his offense while also protecting the community from future crimes.”

This sentencing comes on the heels of a recent sizable drug bust in East Anchorage where police seized 24 grams of heroin, among other illegal substances. Courter says the two incidents are unrelated.

Faatafuga will remain under court supervision for five years after he’s released from prison.

Two teenagers convicted of armed robbery at a Fairbanks liquor store have been sentenced to five years in prison.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports 19-year-old Marcus Djaun Howard and 18-year-old Brandon Michael Roberts reached a plea arrangement with prosecutors for the March 2 robbery of the liquor store and gas station northeast of Fairbanks.

Prosecutors say the men held two clerks at gunpoint and fled with two bottles of liquor and nearly $1,300 in cash.

Police a day later stopped a car fitting the description of the get-away car and arrested them.

Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Crail says Howard and Roberts confessed to the robbery and accepted responsibility for it. She says the case would have been hard to prove at trial because there was little physical evidence.

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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

A man is facing felony charges following a seizure of about 500 grams of methamphetamine and 5 kilograms of cocaine, according to the Alaska U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Thursday, a grand jury indicted 53-year-old Steven Bradley Powell charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and one count of money laundering conspiracy. The illegal activity spanned from about May 2012 to October 2013, according to a federal indictment.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Courter says the drugs have a street value of more than $1.5 million. The total value of the seized cocaine was $500,000; the seized methamphetamine totaled around $1 million.

In the indictment, the United States is also seeking more than $250,000 from Powell in forfeitures, including multiple properties in Nevada. When an individual has used property and/or funds to facilitate drug transactions, those properties and/or funds are forfeited to the U.S., Courter says.

Authorities didn’t have to search far to nab Powell.

“He was in state of Alaska custody for something unrelated,” said Courter of Powell.

A 59-year-old Ketchikan man has been charged with felony drug counts after a search of his home that police say turned up 5.5 pounds of marijuana.

The Ketchikan Daily News reports George B. Friend is charged with four counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance.

Police with a search warrant Monday also recovered three chocolate-covered psilocybin mushrooms, packaging materials, digital scales and $8,000.

Police Sgt. Andy Berntson says the street value of the marijuana at $500 per ounce is about $44,000.

Friend was free Friday on $10,000 bail.

Online court records did not indicate he was represented by an attorney. He is scheduled Monday for an attorney status hearing. Directory assistance did not list a phone number for Friend.

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Information from: Ketchikan (Alaska) Daily News, http://www.ketchikandailynews.com

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Photo courtesy the Humane Society of the United States

The Humane Society of the United States is offering a reward up to $5,000 for information in connection with a dog’s death in which the pit bull was found hanging from a tree with his throat slashed.

The dog, named Snoop, was discovered in the woods near East 20th Avenue and Rosemary Street Oct. 10 after he ran away, according to the Anchorage Police Department. Authorities called it an “act of extreme animal cruelty,” and said Snoop was a well-loved, microchipped pet that lived with a family in a nearby mobile home park.

Wednesday, the Humane Society said they would offer up to $5,000 for information that could lead to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or people involved.

“Getting the serious attention of law enforcement, prosecutors and the community in cases involving allegations of cruelty to animals is an essential step in protecting the community,” a Humane Society press release said. “The connection between animal cruelty and human violence is well documented. Studies show a correlation between animal cruelty and all manner of other crimes, from narcotics and firearms violations to battery and sexual assault.”

Anchorage Crime Stoppers is also offering a reward up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest. There are no suspects in the case, said APD spokeswoman Anita Shell.

Photo from "On the Ice" trailer.

A jury has found a 47-year-old Kiana man, known for his role in the film “On the Ice,” guilty of shooting two brothers and stealing their boat in September 2012, authorities say.

Tuesday, Teddy K. Smith was found guilty of two counts of first-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree theft and two counts of first-degree assault stemming from a Sept. 2012 incident on the Squirrel River.

On Sept.19, 2012, Alaska State Troopers helped transport two gunshot victims to separate hospitals. The victims — later identified as 46-year-old Paul James Buckel and 47-year-old Charles W. Buckel Jr. — had been hunting and afterwards traveled in their boat down the river. The Buckel brothers told troopers they had stopped at a cabin about 40 miles from Kiana the day before, according to an online dispatch from Alaska State Troopers posted Wednesday afternoon.

“[T]hey found another male already staying in the cabin, an altercation occurred and the two hunters were both shot,” the dispatch says.

The male, Smith, then stole the brothers’ inflatable boat, hunting equipment and floated down the river.

The next day, about 12 troopers — using aircraft and watercraft – were able to apprehend Smith in the stolen boat on the Squirrel River.

A prior warrant was out for Smith’s arrest following the death of his mother, Dolly Smith, on Sept. 7, 2012, which was originally reported as “suspicious,” troopers said. When first responders arrived at the scene of his mother’s residence, Smith — who troopers say had been drinking — discharged a firearm at a crowd of people outside the residence. He then fled the area and wasn’t seen again until troopers apprehended him on the Squirrel River.

No evidence was found to indicate he played a role in the death of his mother, troopers say. The jury, however, did find him guilty of three counts of third-degree assault stemming from the violent episode following his mother’s death.

Smith’s sentencing is slated for April 29, 2015.

A 13-year-old in Juneau has been found responsible for starting a fire at the Merchants Wharf building Monday night.

At around 9:40 p.m., Capital City Fire and Rescue and two Juneau Police Department officers responded to a fire at the building, which has been victim to recurring arson activity. In a release, JPD says five separate arson incidents have been reported between Nov. 7 and Nov. 22.

When officers arrived on scene, smoke filled the first-floor hallway. The two JPD officers were able to locate a smoldering fire in a trashcan in the women’s restroom.

The wall above the trashcan sustained damage from the fire, police say.

Officers determined that two juvenile females had entered the restroom together. Both left the restroom prior to the fire alarm being activated.

After interviewing both of the females, it was determined Tuesday that one of the females started the fire. Police released her to her mother.

A 49-year-old Palmer man was sentenced in federal court Tuesday for sexually exploiting children more than a decade ago.

A federal judge sentenced Robert Cunningham on six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, using two children to produce child pornography, according to a release from the Alaska U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Cunningham’s crimes occured between September 2002 and May 2003 in Palmer. In that eight months, he used his large physical presence, pressing his victims against the wall and ceiling to show that the children were “powerless against him,” the release says of Cunningham, who is 6-foot-5 and more than 300 pounds. He also used nitrous oxide to force the children — who were approximately 8 and 12 years old at the time – to cooperate.

Cunningham was previously convicted of possession of child pornography in 2001, the release says, and was also convicted in state court for abusing the children.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason issued Cunningham the maximum sentences allowable on each of the charges — 50 years for two of the counts and 30 years on the remaining four counts. The U.S. attorney’s office says those sentences will run concurrently to each other and to Cunningham’s 88-year sentence in state court.

Gleason expressed concern that should Cunningham ever be released from prison, “children would be at risk of sexual exploitation.” That played a factor in her sentencing, the release says. She ordered that if Cunningham was ever released, that he remain supervised for the rest of his life.

“There is no feasible way to protect the public at whatever age [Cunningham] might be,” Gleason said in the release, adding that his use of nitrous oxide bordered on torture.

The children that Cunningham victimized are now adults, the U.S. attorney’s office says.

A mother who fired shots at a car in a Kenai parking lot has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Kenai police say Ashley Nelund opened fired on a 17-year-old boy and another person driving a car outside the Kenai Walmart last year. She approached them saying she was owed money.

Nelund told police she fired three shots at the vehicle’s bumper to scare them.

Investigators characterized it as a drug deal gone wrong.

The Peninsula Clarion (http://ow.ly/F0fZ1) reports Nelund’s sentence issued Wednesday will ultimately include three years of suspended time and five years of probation after she’s released.

Nelund’s attorney Dina Cale says she was pregnant at the time and suffering from mental illness.

Kenai District Attorney Scot Leaders says the violence was severe and uncharacteristic for the area.

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Information from: (Kenai, Alaska) Peninsula Clarion, http://www.peninsulaclarion.com

(Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)