Cantwell Man Pleads Guilty to Illegal Drug Trafficking Charges

Anchorage, Alaska - U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced that a Cantwell man entered pleas of guilty in federal court today in Anchorage, for two counts of trafficking in narcotics.

Randall Dion Frank, 52, of Cantwell, Alaska, pleaded guilty today before Chief United States District Judge Ralph R. Beistline, to charges that he conspired to violate federal drug trafficking laws, and attempted to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it.

According to the facts presented in court by Assistant U. S. Attorney Stephen Cooper to support the guilty pleas, last September Frank and accomplice Russell Miller received a parcel containing about one pound of 99% pure methamphetamine for redistribution to others in Alaska.  Drug Enforcement Administration agents had information that the parcel contained illegal drugs.  They obtained a search warrant from the court, followed the parcel when it was delivered, and arrested both Frank and Miller at Miller’s residence in Cantwell as they were in the act of opening the parcel.  Investigation revealed that the parcel was the latest in a series of shipments of methamphetamine that Miller received from sources in Arizona during several months before their arrest.  Miller shared portions of these shipments with Frank.  According to law enforcement investigators in the case, the total value of the seized drugs alone exceeds $50,000, or $100,000 if the drugs were diluted before resale.  The value of the additional drugs shipped into Alaska before the arrest would be several times this amount. 

The judge set sentencing proceedings for July 23, 2014 at 9:00 a.m., in Anchorage.  Frank and Miller have been ordered detained in custody pending the sentencing.

Ms. Loeffler commends the agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration the State of Alaska Drug Task Force officers cooperating with DEA, for the investigation of this case.