Adam Jason Spindler, Smuggling Drugs into Prison, Alaska 2016

Anchorage, Alaska – Former Corrections Officer Adam Jason Spindler, 33, of Wasilla, has been sentenced to 8 months in federal prison for his role in smuggling drugs into Goose Creek Correctional Center (GCCC) in Wasilla, Alaska.

On August 29, 2016, Spindler pled guilty to one count of drug conspiracy and one count of possession of controlled substances with the intent to distribute. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Hattan, between at least March 30, 2016, and May 23, 2016, Spindler agreed on multiple occasions to smuggle drugs into GCCC for several different GCCC inmates housed in the section of GCCC that Spindler was responsible for guarding as a Corrections Officer.

Spindler met with several inmates’ respective drug associates at locations outside of GCCC to obtain drugs, and then smuggled those drugs into GCCC and delivered them to the particular inmate for whom Spindler had obtained and smuggled the drugs. Spindler got the drugs into the prison by hiding them when he reported for work. As a Corrections Officer, Spindler had to pass through a metal detector but was not routinely subjected to pat-down or further searches when he entered GCCC.

One of the drug schemes that Spindler was involved in was his May 2016 conspiracy with inmate Edward Wayne George, aka “Bigs,” and George’s girlfriend, Taylor Hunter, to smuggle drugs into GCCC for distribution to other inmates. George was a GCCC inmate who was housed in the same section of GCCC where Spindler worked as a Corrections Officer.

Spindler got Hunter’s contact information from George and from there, Spindler and Hunter coordinated the drug delivery directly. Between May 5 and May 25, 2016, Spindler had contact with Hunter approximately 35 times. On May 23, 2016, as law enforcement officers looked on, Spindler, who was dressed in his Alaska Department of Corrections uniform, met Hunter at a McDonald’s restaurant in Wasilla to retrieve the drugs that Spindler planned to smuggle to George.

Spindler admitted that he was paid approximately $1,400 altogether for smuggling drugs into GCCC, but made it clear that he was doing it for the “excitement” not the money. At sentencing, Judge Sharon L. Gleason noted the seriousness of Spindler’s crimes and recognized “the enormous” and multi-faceted impact that introducing drugs into a prison environment has to GCCC inmates, GCCC personnel, and public trust.

Spindler was sentenced to 8 months in federal prison, 3 years of supervised release, forfeiture of his 2011 pickup truck, a $1,400 fine, and 120 hours of community service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Hattan. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted the investigation.

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