84 Months for Anchorage Money Launderer

Anchorage Man Sentenced to 84 Months for Role in Large-Scale Money Laundering Conspiracy

Anchorage resident David Edward Frazier has been sentenced to 84 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars earned from the sale of large quantities of heroin and cocaine by local drug dealers, according to U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler.

Frazier, 44, previously pled guilty to conspiring with others to launder the proceeds of drug trafficking. As part of his guilty plea, Frazier admitted to selling nearly three kilograms of heroin and ten kilograms of cocaine and then delivering the cash from those sales back to his supplier in order to continue their drug trafficking operation.

Following his release from prison, Frazier will be on supervised release for three years. As part of the sentence, Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy M. Burgess entered a money judgment against Frazier for $743,000 – the total amount of drug money laundered during the conspiracy.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie C. Courter, who prosecuted the case, the conspiracy began in March 2013 and continued until June 2013. During that time, Frazier acquired drugs, mainly heroin and cocaine, from a local drug supplier and then worked with a partner to sell the drugs to others.

Frazier was ‘fronted’ the drugs by his source, meaning that he obtained the drugs essentially ‘on credit.’ He then sold the drugs and returned the cash proceeds to his supplier in order to continue their drug enterprise. Over the course of just three months in 2013, Frazier and his partner acquired nearly three kilograms of heroin and more than ten kilograms of cocaine from their supplier.

The wholesale value of the drugs sold exceeded $660,000, with the conspirators earning an additional $80,000 in profit. During the sentencing hearing, Judge Burgess called Frazier’s actions ‘extremely serious,’ noting that Frazier sold nearly $250,000 worth of heroin and cocaine each month for three months. Judge Burgess also found Frazier’s criminal history to be significant, pointing out that Frazier’s record included at least 15 adult criminal convictions.

The sentencing hearing is related to a string of indictments returned in late 2014 and early 2015 as part of ongoing efforts to dismantle and prosecute several large-scale drug trafficking rings with ties to Alaska, California, Texas, Arizona, and Mexico. To date, the following individuals have been sentenced as part of these efforts:

• Timothy Alex, an Anchorage drug distributor, previously sentenced to 108 months in prison;
• Daniel Harris, an Anchorage drug distributor, previously sentenced to 135 months in prison;
• Jose Ramon Canales, of Texas, previously sentenced to 70 months in prison for laundering drug money out of the United States and into Mexico;
• Omar Alejandro Alfaro, of Texas, previously sentenced to 84 months in prison for drug trafficking;
• Genaro Gutierrez-Reyes, of California, previously sentenced to 18 months in prison for laundering drug money out of the United States and into Mexico;
• Jorge Armando Zaragoza-Soto, of Mexico, previously sentenced to 96 months in prison for drug trafficking;
• Geronimo Arellano Velarde, of California, previously sentenced to 120 months in prison for drug trafficking;
• Jasmin Sanchez, of California, previously sentenced to 60 months in prison for drug trafficking;
• Tomas Gutierrez Ayala, of California, previously sentenced to 75 months in prison for drug trafficking.

This and the related cases were investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Loeffler praised the work of the law enforcement agencies involved, including the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.