Two California men have been indicted on multiple counts of sex trafficking, kidnapping and sexual assault and will face additional charges related to drug trafficking.
The investigation into the alleged criminal activities of 37-year-old Kendale Standifer and 34-year-old Jamal Williams began with a traffic stop by Alaska State Troopers. A trooper pulled the two men over on the Parks Highway on Feb. 7 for speeding. Two women were with them, and the trooper suspected “them of being involved in sex trafficking and drug trafficking,” troopers said in an online dispatch.
The trooper notified the Fairbanks Statewide Drug Enforcement Unit (SDEU) and the Anchorage Special Crimes Investigation Unit (SCIU).
A few days after the trooper’s interaction with them, Fairbanks police were notified by a rental car company that a vehicle rented by Standifer and Williams had not been returned. Police located them and “smelled an odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle and noticed Standifer had a large sum of money and seven to 10 phones in his possession,” according to troopers. SDEU was called to the scene to investigate.
“Through their investigation, SDEU drug investigators found the two females, ages 19 and 20, who said they were being pimped out by both men in a statewide prostitution enterprise,” troopers wrote, adding the two men forced them into prostitution “by intimidation, abuse, and with the use of narcotics.”
On Feb. 12, SCIU and the Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics Team (WAANT) conducted a warranted search on a storage unit in Anchorage being used by Standifer. They found an estimated $280,000 worth of drugs, troopers report.
“Other search warrants served by drug investigators during the course of the investigation uncovered many items associated with sex trafficking including over $10,000 in cash, multiple cell phones, ledgers with clients names and phone numbers, and numerous documents on money laundering,” troopers said.
Standifer and Williams were arrested on Feb. 11 and are being held without bail at the Fairbanks Correctional Center. They were later indicted on multiple charges on Feb. 19. Standifer faces a single count each of first- and second-degree sex trafficking, first-degree sexual assault and kidnapping. Williams has been charged with single counts of first-degree sex trafficking and kidnapping and two counts of second-degree sex trafficking. Additional drug-related charges are pending against both men.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Postal Investigators have assisted in the ongoing case against both men.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
