Alaska News

8 rappers among 11 indicted on charges of selling cocaine

A federal grand jury has indicted 11 people for their alleged roles in dealing large amounts of cocaine in Anchorage and Fairbanks. According to the indictment, eight of the 11 are rappers and drug money was used to "make it appear they were profitable recording artists."

The case involved city, state and federal authorities, at least one confidential informant who bought drugs from the accused dealers, and, in January, one of the largest-ever single cocaine seizures by law enforcement in Alaska.

Most of the defendants were arrested Thursday. Two were still on the loose Friday.

According to the indictment, the defendants planned the distribution of more than 50 kilograms of cocaine, as well as prescription painkillers and marijuana. But undercover police work nabbed about half of the coke as investigators built a case, the indictment says.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says eight of the 11 named in the indictment are rappers with Anchorage-based groups Out Da Cutt and Up North D Boys.

"The indictment alleges that drug proceeds were used in an attempt to facilitate and legitimize the music careers of the members of the conspiracy by making it appear that they were profitable recording artists," a written statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office says. "These individuals produced and featured themselves in several music videos available on the website YouTube.com. In these videos, they perform under the stage names mentioned as aliases in the indictment, and lyrics to many of the songs refer to drug trafficking."

Some of the defendants allegedly received drug shipments from California, Nevada and Washington through parcel shipping services. They and others named in the indictment sold the drugs in Fairbanks and Anchorage between 2009 and 2012, according to the indictment. On at least four occasions, the Out Da Cutt recording studio on West 58th Avenue in Anchorage was used during a cocaine deal, the indictment says.

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The defendants named in the Aug. 22 indictment are:

• Donnell "D" Johnson, also known as "Creep"

• Terrance "Baydilla" Fleming, also known as "Fatboy" or "Rodney William Payne"

• Antonio "Wookie" Fleming

• Dalon "DayDay" Johnson

• Trevoris "Peanut" Carter, also known as "Young Money"

• Rock Edward "Scitzo Scoe" Phelps II

• Demar "Duckmane" Moultrie, also known as "All Day"

• Jeraelyn "Dredhead" Hill, also known as "Rae"

• Jerry "Two-tone" Wormley Jr.

• Brent "BG" Gunnels

• Emma Elizabeth Shine

Nine of the 11 were arrested Thursday, including Antonio Fleming, Shine, Dalon Johnson, Hill and Phelps in Anchorage; Terrance Fleming in a suburb of Atlanta; and Carter and Moultrie in Rochester, N.Y., prosecutors said. Fairbanks residents Wormley and Gunnels had not been apprehended as of Friday.

Donnell Johnson has been behind bars since late January, when he was arrested for sending a duffel bag holding 12 kilos of cocaine in a vehicle headed to Fairbanks, according to an earlier charging document. Police watched Johnson put the duffel into a vehicle and later stopped the vehicle, found the drugs and arrested the woman driving it, the charges say.

The January bust is the most cocaine officers have snared at one time in Anchorage, police said, and likely one of the largest single seizures in Alaska history. It ultimately led to Johnson's arrest, when he was found with about $33,000 cash proceeds from drug sales, more than $100,000 in jewelry bought with drug money, and a money counter, according to the indictment.

Federal prosecutors are seeking forfeiture in the case, including nearly $85,000 cash, "custom jewelry," as many as 10 vehicles, a gun and a house on Dannilynn Circle in Northeast Anchorage.

In songs posted online at MySpace, Facebook or on their personal websites, the musicians rapped about Alaska and, sometimes, about doing or dealing drugs. One video shows several of the now-jailed lyricists rapping live in a packed club, mentioning place names from around Anchorage and Alaska. Terrance "Baydilla" Flemming appears in front of Turnagain Arm mountains and a waterfall in a 2010 music video for his song "Just Me."

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"I'm a full-time criminal, stickin' to my grind," Flemming raps. "Gettin' to this money, but it's my last time, because the feds watchin' everybody, it's crunch time."

Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.

By CASEY GROVE

Anchorage Daily News

Casey Grove

Casey Grove is a former reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. He left the ADN in 2014.

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