A man was arrested in Anchorage last week after federal investigators intercepted a shipment containing more than 2 pounds of heroin hidden inside a plastic toy.
Darron Sanders, 38, was taken into custody Jan. 31 after he received a package containing more than 1,000 grams of black tar heroin. Investigators discovered the drugs after getting a signal from a drug detection dog while the package was still en route to its destination, according to a sworn affidavit.
Sanders has been charged with attempted possession of 100 grams or more of heroin, a federal crime that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
The heroin is valued at about $200,000, according to Chloe Martin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska.
Andrew Grow, a postal inspector with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, wrote in the affidavit that the package was addressed to a residence on the 3800 block of Indiana Street in Midtown Anchorage. The return address was in Los Angeles.
"Sarah Sanders” was listed as the recipient, and the name “Dennis Sanders” was listed in the return address. It was not immediately clear if the two names belong to real or fictitious people.
When investigators searched the package, they found a pair of shoes, a small toy motorcycle and plastic King Kong toy nestled among the packing peanuts, Grow wrote. Hidden inside the King Kong toy were three bundles of heroin that were “covered with multiple layers of dryer sheets, carbon paper, and saran wrap.”
Investigators placed a tracking device and “clue spray” — a substance that glows green under a black light — on the parcel, and an undercover postal inspector delivered it to the address the next day.
Sanders, who accepted and opened the package, was arrested after initially refusing to comply, the affidavit said. The box was found in a bathtub in the upstairs bathroom with the contents still inside, “wet as if Sanders had been washing it in the bathtub,” Grow wrote.
A man described in the affidavit as “unknown” was at the home when Sanders was arrested and was also taken into custody.
Sanders, whose most recent address is in Wasilla, has been previously convicted of multiple drug-related misdemeanors.