Alaskan Man Arrested After $15,000 Ecstasy Package Intercepted

A 27-year-old Fairbanks man was arrested after US Customs intercepted his package containing 487 Ecstasy tablets.

The package, sent from the Netherlands, was initially discovered by Homeland Security. US Customs and Border Protection agents were then tipped off. The package was shortly thereafter opened by federal agents at a San Francisco USPS sorting facility. Investigation documents note that the package did not have a tracking number and was addressed to Dontell Rashad Jones in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Secure shipping channels carried the package of ‘Green Ghosts’ from San Francisco to investigators in Fairbanks. A Statewide Drug Enforcement Unit received the pills, repackaged them, and arranged a controlled delivery. According to the criminal complaint filed shortly after his arrest in early September, the CD was successful. After Jones accepted the package, local police obtained a warrant to search his property.

Jones was found with the opened package not long after delivery. The Statewide Drug Enforcement Unit reclaimed what the pills, amounting to 126 grams of Ecstasy. In Fairbanks, the pills sell for between $20 and $40 and have a total street value of $15,000. The quantity of drugs and estimated value provided by local law enforcement led to his Class A felony charge.

The Fairbanks man was charged with felony second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance. At the time of his arrest, Jones was still under the conditions of a prior fourth-degree assault charge. The criminal complaint makes a note of his prior charges and how the new arrest violates the agreement reached following the assault charges.

In Alaska, the penalty for a Class A felony is imprisonment of up to 20 years and a fine up to $250,000.

Jones’s arrest reveals the kind of collaboration between government agencies similar to what has been seen in other busts. From the few details made publicly available, US Homeland Security was the first US agency to pick up the package. Homeland Security then collaborated with US Customs and Border Protection. US Customs and Border Protection worked with USPS and USPIS in San Francisco. An Alaska Statewide Drug Enforcement Unit was next in line. Fairbanks Police Department made the final move: the arrest.

At least six US agencies were involved.

Details regarding how Homeland Security got wind of the package have not been released. Based solely on acceptance of the package during a controlled delivery, a successful prosecution is likely. As seen in many recent raids, a successful controlled delivery is ample evidence for a conviction.