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.