⏱ 2 min read
A ruthless fentanyl trafficker was sentenced to 10 years in prison after attempting to poison an entire Alaskan village. Michelle Pungowiyi, 51, had been shipping massive amounts of the deadly opioid into Savoonga, a tiny community on St. Lawrence Island with a population of just 835.
Between December 2022 and February 2023, law enforcement intercepted three packages addressed to Pungowiyi’s P.O. box, containing over 7,000 illicit fentanyl pills. The pills were destined for Savoonga, where they would have been enough to kill the entire village population eight times over.
Text messages revealed that Pungowiyi was working with a California inmate, who allegedly ran a large-scale drug trafficking organization. The California ringleader had been using Pungowiyi to traffic the deadly fentanyl into rural Alaska, preying on the community’s vulnerability.
U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford slammed Pungowiyi’s role in the organization, saying, ‘She tried to traffic over 7,000 illegal fentanyl pills into the small community of Savoonga, enough to potentially kill the entire village population eight times over.’
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📋 Key Facts
- Crime: Drug Trafficking
- Defendant: Alaska
- Location: AK
- Source: DOJ Press Release
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