Two Anchorage residents arrested, charged with maintaining a drug-involved premise at a local hotel

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An Anchorage man and woman were arrested on Friday after a federal grand jury in Alaska returned an indictment charging them with conspiring to maintain a drug-involved premise at the Chelsea Inn Hotel (CIH) in Anchorage.

U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman for the District of Alaska, Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Day of the FBI Anchorage Field Office and Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case made the announcement alongside Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal John Olson during a press conference at the James M. Fitzgerald U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building.

According to court documents, beginning in October 2020, Kyoung Seo, 62, an owner of the CIH, and Chantel Fields, 36, allegedly conspired together and with others to maintain the hotel for the purpose of distributing and using controlled substances.

Court documents allege that the FBI and Anchorage Police Department (APD) began investigating allegations of drug trafficking, involving persons living at, working at and frequenting the hotel. It is alleged that Fields used the hotel to store and distribute drugs, directed people looking to buy drugs to their dealers living on the premise and controlled who was allowed to visit the hotel. Fields and Seo allegedly enforced a $20 “door fee” for people visiting the hotel.

Since 2020, law enforcement conducted multiple enforcement and investigatory actions at the CIH, including a February 2025 search warrant execution that resulted in the seizure of nine firearms, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and over 1.2 kilograms of suspected controlled substances.

The investigation revealed many instances of alleged violent crime or drug related activity occurring at the hotel in the past five years. APD records show over 1,000 emergency calls for service to the CIH since 2020. Many of those calls were requests to respond to violent crime, domestic disputes and drug crimes, including homicides and fatal and non-fatal overdoses.

On Friday, Aug. 22, law enforcement executed related search warrants on three locations—the CIH and two residences. During the search of the three locations, law enforcement discovered and seized 11 firearms, including two behind the front desk, thousands of rounds of ammunition, substantial quantities of suspected controlled substances and approximately $45,000.

The FBI also executed a seizure warrant for the CIH property on Friday. The U.S. Marshals Service took custody of the building, effectively ceasing the alleged drug trafficking at the hotel.

Seo and Fields are charged with one count of conspiracy to maintain a drug-involved premises. The defendants are scheduled for their initial court appearances on a later date before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI Anchorage Field Office and Anchorage Police Department are investigating this case as part of the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, with assistance from the IRS Criminal Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, APD High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Unit, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Alaska State Troopers.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cody Tirpak and Seth Beausang are prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline) a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime and drug trafficking. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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