Richard Frye, Fentanyl Trafficking, Alaska 2023

Anchorage man Richard Frye, 36, pleaded guilty last week to conspiring with others to traffic fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin in Alaska on behalf of a California inmate-led drug trafficking organization.

According to court documents, on March 23, 2023, Frye and co-conspirator Tiffani Couch, 31, drove their other co-conspirator Anna Petla, 25, to the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and dropped her off for departure. Petla attempted to board a flight to Sand Point, but law enforcement officials contacted her inside the airport and discovered nearly 3,000 blue fentanyl pills in her backpack. She also possessed over 80 grams of methamphetamine.

Law enforcement officials subsequently contacted Frye and Couch as they waited in their vehicle outside the departure area and detained both. Officers searched the vehicle and found over 500 blue fentanyl pills and over 40 grams of other controlled substances.

On June 9, 2023, law enforcement officials contacted Frye and Couch during a traffic stop in Anchorage. Officers searched the vehicle and recovered roughly 1,400 blue fentanyl pills, over 12 grams of other controlled substances, and two loaded ammunition magazines. Frye possessed the controlled substances with the intent to distribute them to people in Alaska on behalf of the drug trafficking organization.

Frye posted bail and was released but was ordered detained again following a bail hearing in state court on June 23, 2023. On June 25, 2023, correctional officers discovered Frye attempted to body carry roughly 70 suboxone strips into the detention facility with the intent to distribute them inside the facility.

Frye used a digital money transferring service to send 34 transfers totaling over $8,800 to a co-conspirator’s account between December 2022 and March 2023. During the same time frame, Frye received nine transfers totaling over $1,000 from the same co-conspirator. Frye is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 13, 2025, and faces up to 20 years in prison.

Frye’s co-defendants, Couch and Petla, have also pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy. Couch is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 22, 2026, and Petla is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 16, 2025.

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