An Anchorage man was sentenced to seven years in prison Thursday for selling heroin to an undercover drug agent, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Anchorage..
Rhadames Marmolejos Jr., 21, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Beistline for selling heroin to an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent on eight separate occasions, prosecutors said. Marmolejos entered a guilty plea to one count of drug trafficking conspiracy in a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in July.
From October 2012 to January of this year, Marmolejos sold 97.2 grams to the undercover agent, according to the plea agreement.
Two of Marmolejos' co-defendants in the case were convicted of federal drug and weapons charges in August.
The case began in February after a U.S. Postal Service worker intercepted a package containing about two pounds of heroin, according to an August press release issued by federal prosecutors. One of Marmolejos' co-defendants, Christopher Thomas Mejia, intended to buy a pound of the heroin for $30,000. Mejia and Jared Thomas Bowers were arrested as they waited to buy the heroin.
After that bust, Marmolejos told the undercover agent his suppliers were going to get a pound of heroin, special assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Bradley said.
Mejia and Bowers will be sentenced later this month.
When authorities came to Marmolejos' McCarrey Street apartment to arrest him on March 26, they found a Remington Model 870 12-gauge shotgun, two drug scales with heroin residue, and assorted ammunition, according to the U.S. Attorney's statement.
Before imposing the sentence, Beistline noted Marmolejos' youth and his "assaultive criminal history involving firearms," the U.S. attorney's office said.
A state courts database shows convictions of Marmolejos for felony assault in 2010 and 2011.
Reach Benjamin Brasch at bbrasch@adn.com or 257-4349. Twitter: twitter.com/ben_brasch
By BENJAMIN S. BRASCH