Homer man who fled sentenced for meth conspiracy

Prosecutors say Kostas Nikolaos Bairamis, 23, conspired to distribute more than a pound of methamphetamine. He considered himself a major player in the Homer-area drug trade, driving multiple Cadillac Escalades and other high-end vehicles while boasting that he never worked a day in his life, a trooper investigator said.

"He makes statements, that were brought out in trial, that he would be bigger than all the other drug dealers put together," said investigator Gordon Bittner.

Bairamis began buying methamphetamine on a weekly basis in 2008 from a source in Anchorage, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

The next year, he convinced the source to "front" him one pound and nine ounces of meth, prosecutors said. When Bairamis could only pay $20,000 of his $78,600 drug debt, he fled to Greece, where he hid out for a month, fearing retribution.

Bairamis' father is from Greece and his family is building a home there, the trooper investigator said.

When he returned to Alaska, Bairamis paid off his debt by giving his meth source the title to a 2008 Cadillac Escalade -- a vehicle purchased with drug profits, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess handed down the sentence in Anchorage, saying it was one year above the mandatory minimum because of Bairamis' attempts to influence witness testimony, according to an account of the sentencing provided by prosecutors.

The judge said Bairamis appeared "completely disconnected from reality," with an inflated sense of self worth, self importance and entitlement that suggested mental health concerns, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The judge said Bairamis lived like he was in a music video, Bittner said.

Bairamis also is facing separate federal charges in an OxyContin-trafficking case.

"We had numerous, numerous complaints from people in the Homer, Anchor Point area of this individual distributing drugs," Bittner said.

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