Anchorage Man Sentenced to Five Years for Conspiring to Traffic Methamphetamine to Utqiaġvik (Formerly Barrow)

Anchorage, Alaska – Acting U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder announced that an Anchorage man was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison for conspiring to traffic methamphetamine from California to Alaska by mail, for further distribution in Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Anchorage, and elsewhere within the State of Alaska.

Maurice Abad Malabed, aka “Moe,” 48, of Anchorage, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason, to 5 years in federal prison, followed by 4 years of supervised release. On

March 7, 2017, Malabed pled guilty to one count of drug conspiracy.

According to court documents filed in this case, on Nov. 29, 2016, Malabed contacted an individual about trafficking drugs to Utqiaġvik, who, unbeknownst to Malabed, was a North Slope Borough Police Department confidential source (CS). Thereafter, per Malabed’s request, the CS provided Malabed with $3,000 to obtain approximately four ounces of methamphetamine from Malabed’s supplier in California. On Dec. 7, 2016, Malabed gave the CS a United Parcel Service (UPS) tracking number for the package containing the drugs. Using the tracking number that Malabed provided, law enforcement agents seized the package at a UPS facility in Anchorage. The mailing label on the package indicated that it was shipped from California to co-defendant David Christensen’s address in Anchorage. Law enforcement obtained a search warrant for the package, which contained approximately 163.7 grams of methamphetamine, which is equivalent to roughly 1,637 hits or doses. The investigation revealed that Malabed recruited co-defendant David Christensen to receive and then help distribute the drugs.

At sentencing, Judge Gleason noted the seriousness of the offense, specifically that Malabed’s offense was “targeted” at smuggling methamphetamine to the small community of Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), where the impact of 163 grams of methamphetamine “is so much greater than [the same quantity] in a community the size of [Anchorage].”

Christensen is scheduled to be sentenced on July 26, 2017, at 1:30 P.M.

Acting U.S. Attorney Schroder commended the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Alaska State Troopers Statewide Drug Enforcement Unit, and the North Slope Borough Police Department who conducted the investigation, which led to the successful prosecution of this case.