Crime & Courts

Three people with ties to violent Anchorage drug ring convicted

A cache of firearms, 5 pounds of meth and ski masks were strewn over a conference table Wednesday as federal officials announced the convictions of three defendants tied to a violent drug trafficking ring in Anchorage, including the group's ringleader. Three others had previously pleaded guilty to a variety of charges. Several of the defendants terrorized and tortured their victims, prosecutors said.

U.S. Attorney's Office deputy criminal chief Frank Russo said the defendants committed drive-by shootings, home invasions, kidnappings and sexual assaults. The group sold meth, heroin and cocaine.

Forty-year-old Stuart Seugasala, also known as "Tone," directed members of his group to invade drug houses and loot the competitors' stashes for resale. He also is charged with torturing two men as "retribution" for unpaid drug debts, according to court records.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Seugasala sexually assaulted a man identified only as "Victim A" and recorded the rape on a cellphone as an intimidation tool against others.

Two trials have concluded in the past two months, ending an 18-month investigation, prosecutors said.

Those arrested and charged included Seugasala; Phosavan Khamnivong, 35; Timothy Miller, 26; Anoai Sialofi, 26; and Laura Khamnivong, 33. Miller, Sialofi and Laura Khamnivong pleaded guilty before trials; they're set to be sentenced in April.

Lost drugs and a backup plan

The home invasions began in February 2013. Seugasala, Miller and Phosavan Khamnivong shipped 5 pounds of meth to Alaska, said assistant U.S. Attorney Stephan Collins, but U.S. Postal Service inspectors seized the package, he said.

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The group lost their drugs and money, so they figured they'd start collecting debts wherever they could, Collins said.

Russo said the men targeted members of the city's underbelly, but regular people got caught in their crosshairs too.

"Sometimes, they mistook ordinary homes for drug houses, went into them and ... scared the occupants to death," Russo said.?

The investigation started like many others, with a rookie patrol officer in Valdez following up on an arrest warrant in April 2013. Miller and another man were arrested there after they arrived to sell drugs supplied by Seugasala and Phosavan Khamnivong. Russo said that officer continued digging and eventually got a search warrant for Miller's cellphone, which contained the video of the sexual assault.

A month after the group lost its drugs and a month before Miller was arrested in Valdez, Seugasala had formulated a plan to collect a heroin debt from "Victim A," prosecutors said.

He and another man were lured into Miller's apartment; Collins said they "walked into the gates of hell." For three hours Seugasala, Phosavan Khamnivong and Miller tortured the men, he said.

Prosecutors said Seugasala used the video of one man being raped to intimidate others and "show them what would happen if they didn't repay their drug debts."

That same victim was treated at Providence Alaska Medical Center, where Stacy Laulu, 33, was working as a financial counselor. Trial testimony indicated that Laulu's husband was an associate of Seugasala, in jail for an unrelated murder.

Seugasala texted the hospital employee to get information on his victim and asked whether the man had provided police with information. Laulu handed over health information, prosecutors said.

Additionally, the woman gave Seugasala protected health information about a shooting victim. Russo said that victim insulted Seugasala's girlfriend at a local Denny's and Seugasala shot the man's vehicle as he drove away from the restaurant.

Convictions and criminal histories

On Jan. 16, a federal jury convicted Seugasala of drug conspiracy, kidnapping and firearms offenses. Seugasala and Laulu were found guilty of violating the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, which protects the confidentiality of patients' medical records.

Russo said the felony convictions tied to HIPAA are Alaska's first.

On Tuesday, Phosavan Khamnivong, aka "P.K.," was convicted of similar charges, minus the health act violations. Prosecutors said that during the trial, the 35-year-old was identified as the financier of the conspiracy.

Miller, Sialofi, and Laura Khamnivong pleaded guilty before trial. Miller and Sialofi were indicted on kidnapping, firearms and drug trafficking charges; Laura Khamnivong was charged only with drug trafficking.

At least two of the defendants have significant criminal histories.

Seugasala was convicted in 2002 for another drug trafficking conspiracy. He was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison, Collins said.

Prosecutors said Seugasala picked up where he left off shortly after his release.

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Phosavan Khamnivong was one of three men found guilty of murder in Kodiak in 1997. For his part in the killing of cab driver Jimmie Burton -- who was robbed for $21 -- the then-17-year-old Khamnivong got 25 years, according to an Anchorage Daily News story at the time.

"I'd like to thank the jurors," Russo said. "They heard some horrible things about a world that most people in Anchorage and Alaska probably don't know exists under the surface. Really, it's a brutal world where everything from pizza boxes to guns to curling irons were used as objects of torture by members of this drug trafficking ring."

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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