With fewer than 1,000 residents, Sand Point is the kind of place where people know each other by name, and where the rhythms of life are shaped by the sea. On Popof Island at the entrance to the Bering Sea, the community is home to the largest commercial fishing fleet in the Aleutians. Almost half its residents are of Aleut descent and summers bring an influx of workers when commercial salmon fishing is in full swing.
For a town this size, the arrival of thousands of fentanyl pills and other narcotics has devastating consequences. Yet according to federal prosecutors, Sand Point was one of several Alaska communities targeted by a drug trafficking ring that spanned from Mexico to Anchorage and through correctional facilities in Alaska.
Last week, Richard Frye, 36, of Anchorage, pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin on behalf of the organization, allegedly run by a California inmate.
According to court documents, Frye and co-conspirators Tiffani Couch, 31, and Anna Petla, 25, of Dillingham, were intercepted in March 2023 while attempting to move thousands of fentanyl pills bound for Sand Point.
Petla was stopped at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport carrying nearly 3,000 blue fentanyl pills and more than 80 grams of methamphetamine in her backpack. Outside the terminal, law enforcement detained Frye and Couch in a vehicle where they discovered another 500 fentanyl pills and more controlled substances. It was enough to kill the entire town several times over.
In June 2023, Frye and Couch were stopped again by police in Anchorage, this time with roughly 1,400 fentanyl pills, other narcotics and loaded ammunition magazines. Authorities say Frye intended to distribute these drugs within Alaska as part of the trafficking enterprise.
Even incarceration did not stop Fry. Court records show he attempted to smuggle fentanyl and suboxone into the Anchorage Correctional Complex by ingesting packages of drugs wrapped in condoms and cellophane, with the intent of distributing them inside the facility. Days later, correctional officers caught him trying to carry in 70 suboxone strips.
Prosecutors say Frye also moved thousands of dollars in and out of Alaska through digital money transfers, linking him to others in the organization. He faces up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing scheduled for Nov. 13, 2025.
Co-defendants have also pleaded guilty: Couch on May 9, and Petla on June 4. Both await sentencing. Petla now has three hots and a cot at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center.
The Department of Justice says more than 50 people have been charged in the conspiracy, which moved fentanyl, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine from Mexico through Oregon and California and into Alaska between February 2022 and July 2023. Drugs were allegedly distributed to Anchorage, Dillingham, Fairbanks, Goodnews Bay, Ketchikan, Kodiak, New Stuyahok, Palmer, Sand Point, Savoonga, Sitka, Togiak, Tyonek and Wasilla.
At the center of the ring, prosecutors allege, was 57-year-old Heraclio Sanchez-Rodriguez, a California inmate who directed operations using contraband phones inside prison. Authorities say he coordinated with suppliers in Mexico and associates in the Lower 48, while recruits in Alaska, including inmates at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center, helped distribute narcotics across the state.
Christina Quintana, 38, an inmate at Hiland Mountain during the entirety of the conspiracy, was known as one of Sanchez-Rodriguez’s “wives,” a title reserved for high-ranking members of the enterprise. Her role in the conspiracy was to recruit soon-to-be-released inmates from Hiland to be distributors of the drugs. Upon release, the newly recruited members received packages of drugs to distribute the drugs across Alaska. Quintana once shot the kneecaps out of a woman in Sitka over an unpaid drug debt.
Defendants in this case include:
1. Alison Giacullo, 40
2. Amber Young, 28
3. Amy Garcia, 32
4. Angela Jasper, 39
5. Anna Petla, 24
6. April Chythlook, 28
7. Ashley Northrup, 35
8. Catherine Phillips, 40
9. Christina Quintana
10. Cloe Sam, 26
11. Colleen McDaniel, 68
12. Della Northway, 28
13. Desiree Green, 45
14. Douglas Vanmeter, 32
15. Edward Ginnis
16. Elroy Bouchard, 58
17. Erika Badillo, a.k.a “Erica Madrigal,” 42
18. Erindira Pin, 44
19. Frieda Gillespie, 50
20. Gust Romie, 36
21. Heraclio Sanchez-Rodriguez, a.k.a “Charlie,” “Marco” and “Danny Sanchez”
22. James Schwarz, 41
23. Josi Sterling, a.k.a “Josi Philbin,” 35
24. Julia Brusell, 41
25. Kaleea Fox, 24
26. Karen Kasak, 51
27. Karly Fuller, 30
28. Kevin Peterson II
29. Khamthene Thongdy, 45
30. Krystyn Gosuk, 33
31. Larry Marsden, 41
32. Lois Frank, 64
33. Mario Klanott, 37
34. Michael Kohler, 35
35. Michael Soto, 33
36. Michelle Pungowiyi, 49
37. Naomi Sanchez, 39
38. Pasquale Giordano, 45
39. Patricia Seal-Uttke, 30
40. Pius Hanson, 40
41. Richard Frye, 35
42. Rochelle Wood, 38
43. Samantha Pearson
44. Sara Orr, 32
45. Shanda Barlow, 34
46. Shania Agli, 25
47. Stormy Cleveland, a.k.a “Stormy Powell,” 37
48. Tamara Bren
49. Tamberlyn Solomon, 25
50. Tiffani Couch, 30
51. Twyla Gloko, 36
52. Valerie Sanchez, 26
53. Veronica Sanchez, 49