A federal jury in Anchorage convicted a 41-year-old local man Wednesday on a cocaine possession and distribution charge stemming from a raid on his Southport home earlier this year, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Alaska.
Jurors found Arnold Wesley Flowers II guilty of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and for having a firearm as a felon, prosecutors said.
Anchorage Police officers served a search warrant on Flowers' house on March 29, prosecutors said. When they arrived, others inside exited the home when ordered but Flowers allegedly did not come outside and tried to flush drugs down a toilet, they said.
"(Anchorage Police Department) Vice Unit detectives found two ounces of cocaine packaged in clear, plastic sandwich baggies clogging the toilet," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. "They also found another four ounces of cocaine – similarly packaged and dripping with water – hidden under the lining of the trashcan next to the toilet."
Law enforcement searched the house in Southport — a quiet South Anchorage neighborhood with homes ranging from middle-class suburban to more expensive residences — and found $28,000 in cash, two loaded firearms stored in separate safes and items used to package drugs, prosecutors said.
Flowers asserted that he had obtained the money found in his home from "sales of high-end watches," prosecutors said. Authorities say they found no evidence to support that claim.
Flowers and his wife, Miranda Flowers, have another trial on charges of wire fraud set for Dec. 5.
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that the defendant's home was located in Bayshore. The home was located in nearby Southport.