Ketchikan Resident Sentenced To 48 Months For Methamphetamine Conspiracy

Anchorage, Alaska-U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that a former Ketchikan resident was sentenced to 48 months of imprisonment for methamphetamine conspiracy.

Manuel Sanchez Hinahon, 40, of Ketchikan, Alaska, was sentenced today by United States District Court Judge Timothy M. Burgess, in Ketchikan, to 48 months of imprisonment followed by a five-year term of supervised release.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Schmidt, who prosecuted the case, the case started as a joint investigation by the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Ketchikan Police Department (KPD), who identified Hinahon as a member of a drug conspiracy to receive and distribute methamphetamine in Ketchikan, Alaska, sometime in early 2012.

In March 2012, USPIS seized a USPS Express Mail parcel addressed to Hinahon that contained 81.5 grams of actual methamphetamine.  On March 24, 2012, USPIS and KPD agents conducted a controlled delivery of the parcel to Hinahon and subsequently executed a search warrant at Hinahon’s residence in which the parcel was recovered along with drug proceeds, drug paraphilia, scales, money gram receipts, and deposit slips of drug proceeds to another co-conspirator.  A search of Hinahon’s cell phone also contained numerous messages related to drug trafficking.

In sentencing Hinahon, Judge Burgess noted the seriousness of the underlying offense and the need to deter the defendant, as the reasons for the sentence he imposed.

Ms. Loeffler commended the United States Postal Inspection Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Ketchikan Police Department who conducted the investigation leading to the successful prosecution in this case.