Crime & Courts

Las Vegas man sentenced to 13 years for Anchorage meth conspiracy

A 38-year-old man from Las Vegas was sentenced in Anchorage federal court Friday to 13 years in prison on conspiracy charges related to distributing methamphetamine and laundering drug money.

Billy Cooks, aka "Red Dollaz," pleaded guilty to two charges in December 2014. Cooks conspired with his girlfriend and co-defendant E'lala Frank, also of Las Vegas, and others to distribute meth and launder money from the drug trafficking, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Anchorage.

Postal inspectors pinpointed a suspicious package sent from Las Vegas to an Anchorage address on Jan. 22, 2014, prosecutors said. They found 443 grams of meth in the parcel, they said.

The next day, three federal agencies participated in surveillance of the address. A man prosecutors identify as Anchorage resident Dawud Johnson accepted the package from an undercover postal inspector at his doorstep, but he drove off and threw the delivery out the window of his moving car.

Johnson was arrested at a nearby shopping center. Investigators reviewed his phone records, which revealed communications between Johnson and Cooks in the days leading up to the drug package's shipment, prosecutors said.

"Continued investigation into banking records, bank security footage, and security footage from the United States Postal Service confirmed that Frank had mailed the package of methamphetamine on Cooks' behalf and that Cooks, Johnson, and Frank had moved various amounts of money through Frank's bank account," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Johnson previously was sentenced to 15 years for his part in the scheme. Frank was sentenced to a year, according to court records.

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