An Anchorage man was sentenced Thursday to nine years in prison for his involvement in a large-scale conspiracy to sell cocaine and heroin on behalf of a local drug supplier, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
Timothy George Alex, 52, was charged last year alongside seven other defendants from Texas, Arizona and California for attempting to sell nearly 100 pounds, or about 45 kilograms, of various controlled substances in Alaska and launder money back to Mexico, the U.S. attorney's office said in November.
Karen Loeffler, U.S. attorney for Alaska, said in a statement Thursday that Alex pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to distribute cocaine and heroin for profit.
Alex was linked to the sale of about 4 kilograms of cocaine and nearly a kilogram of heroin. He earned more than $80,000 from selling drugs, which Alex agreed to forfeit as part of his plea deal, the statement said.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason noted during sentencing that Alex became involved in the drug trafficking just months after he was released from custody for a previous drug trafficking crime, the statement said.
Alex's sentencing is part of a larger law enforcement effort to "dismantle and prosecute several large-scale drug-trafficking rings with ties to Alaska, California, Texas, Arizona and Mexico," the statement said.
In July, Daniel Harris, an Anchorage drug distributor, was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for related drug, firearm and money laundering crimes. Jose Ramon Canales, of Texas, and Genaro Gutierrez-Reyes, of California, were sentenced to about 6 years and a year and a half, respectively, for their roles in the international scheme, the statement said.
Several other defendants will be sentenced in the coming months, said the U.S. attorney's office.