Anchorage, Alaska – United States Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced that on July 23, 20010, Priscilla Finau, a resident of Juneau, Alaska, was sentenced in federal court in Anchorage to 51 months in prison for her conviction of conspiring to traffic cocaine and methamphetamine.

United States District Judge Timothy M. Burgess imposed the sentence on Finau, age 25.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Andrea “Aunnie” Steward, who prosecuted the case, on several occasions in 2007 and 2008, Finau and her boyfriend, Tamafaiga Lancelot Maefau, flew from Juneau to California to buy drugs and send packages of drugs to Juneau for distribution. In February 2008, Finau and Maefau flew to California, bought drugs and mailed them to Juneau. On February 13, 2008, the package, containing one kilogram of cocaine and 282 grams of methamphetamine, was intercepted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. After the package was intercepted, Finau and Maefau remained fugitives for several months until they were arrested in the Los Angeles area by law enforcement. On November 13, 2009, Maefau was sentenced to 72 months in prison.

Ms. Loeffler commended the Postal Inspection Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Alaska State Troopers and the Juneau Police Department for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Finau.

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