California Man Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison For Drug And Money Laundering Conspiracy

Anchorage, Alaska – U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced that, on Monday, Phillip Dixon, Jr., a/k/a “Cheddar,” 28, of Manteca, CA, was sentenced to 180 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.  Dixon pleaded guilty on April 16, 2015, to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin and conspiracy to launder money.  As part of his plea, he further agreed to forfeit a 2009 Impala, a 2003 Land Rover, $3,400 in currency seized from a Wells Fargo account used to launder money, and $25,000 seized from a safe deposit box.

Dixon was the leader of a drug trafficking organization that sold drugs in Alaska, but whose members were for the most part from the Stockton, California area.  The members of the conspiracy would take turns traveling between California and Alaska to sell their drugs and then would send their drug proceeds back to California via bank deposits and wire transfers.

The investigation revealed that the organization used firearms to enforce their drug trade and to protect their drug trafficking proceeds.  During this investigation firearms were seized from members of this violent organization.

According to court documents, Dixon served a previous prison term for felony drug trafficking and related firearm offenses.  Upon his release, he organized the current group, most of whom were from California.  Many of the co-defendants Dixon recruited had no previous criminal history, but entered this conspiracy willingly.  Between April 2012 and April 2013, Dixon’s criminal enterprise distributed methamphetamine and heroin throughout Alaska.  The conspirators used some of the proceeds of the sale of the drugs to fund their transportation and other operating expenses of the organization.

Furthermore, Dixon conspired with the others to launder the proceeds of the drug sales in an attempt to conceal and disguise the nature, source, ownership, and control of the funds, and that they in fact laundered money in connection with transfers of money from Alaska to the Eastern District of California, knowing that the money represented the proceeds of drug sales.  Dixon arranged for his co-defendants to use a series of bank accounts to move money made from the sale of heroin and methamphetamine.  Proceeds were deposited in Alaska and withdrawn in California.  In other instances, Dixon instructed members of the group to send drug sale proceeds via money orders.

Those others indicted and sentenced include:

• George Little, a/k/a “Nino,” 23, of Stockton, CA; 108 months in prison;
• Gloria Sarinana, 27, of Stockton, CA; five years of probation;
• Fausto Hernandez, a/k/a “Jimmy,” 31; of Stockton, CA; 18 months in prison;
• Shaquille Marquis Anderson, a/k/a “Calvin,” 23; of Stockton, CA; 18 months in prison;
• Justin Fisher, 28, of Stockton, CA; 12 months in prison;
• Kyle Wilson, 24, of Chugiak, Alaska; 11 months in prison;
• Marcos Diaz, 25, of Stockton, CA; 30 months in prison;
• Norris Drummond, Jr., 21, of Stockton, CA; 30 months in prison;
• Cesar Serna, 23, of Stockton, CA; 44 months in prison;
• Anthony Mixon, a/k/a “Ray,” 19, of Stockton, CA;  24 months in prison; and
• Harry Hawkins, III, a/k/a “Paulie,” 33, of Stockton, CA; 33 months in prison.

“Drug trafficking is a nasty business that erodes the safety of our community and destroys families and lives,” stated Special Agent in Charge Teri Alexander of IRS Criminal Investigation.  “But we know the dealers responsible for this trail of tears don’t care about those repercussions; they’re only in it for the money, and that’s where we come in.  IRS-CI is uniquely positioned to track down the money trail criminals like Dixon leave behind, and we are pleased to add our expertise to that of our law enforcement partners to bring this career offender to justice.”

This case was investigated and prosecuted under the purview of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force, which is made up of personnel from the U.S. Attorney=s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Internal Revenue ServiceBCriminal Investigations, and Department of Homeland Security.