An Anchorage man has been sentenced to more than two decades in federal prison for his role in a 10-state ring distributing fentanyl and other drugs, which federal prosecutors say was controlled by Mexican ringleaders.
Dustin Noonan’s 21-year sentence was handed down following a guilty plea to charges of drug and money-laundering conspiracy, according to a Friday statement from U.S. Attorney for Alaska S. Lane Tucker’s office.
“From March 2018 through October 2020, the leaders of the organization regularly mailed large amounts of drugs to distributors throughout the country, including mailing parcels to Noonan in Anchorage, and deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars of drug proceeds into various bank accounts,” federal officials wrote.
The stiff prison term comes amid a broad-based push by all levels of Alaska law enforcement to fight fentanyl trafficking. Nearly 2.5 million doses of the deadly drug were seized statewide during a campaign last summer according to Alaska State Troopers. The surge of fentanyl has prompted Anchorage police to begin carrying overdose-reversing Narcan spray, as state authorities began distributing even stronger doses of a similar drug.
Noonan was originally arrested by Anchorage police during a June 2020 domestic-disturbance call. Police recovered a .45-caliber pistol from his vehicle, which Noonan – who had been convicted of 2006 knifepoint robberies at St. Petersburg, Fla. pharmacies – was legally prohibited from owning.
In 2021, Noonan was among eight Americans and two Mexicans charged in the drug investigation. Prosecutors say the drug ring spanned 10 states including Alaska, with law enforcement recovering six kilograms of heroin, plus four kilograms each of fentanyl and methamphetamine.
“Over several months in 2020, investigators intercepted five drug parcels intended for Noonan, which together contained one kilogram of fentanyl and nearly 800 grams of heroin that Noonan planned to distribute throughout Alaska,” federal officials wrote. “The kilogram of fentanyl that Noonan intended to distribute was enough to kill 500,000 people.”
Five other defendants in the case are awaiting sentencing, with three more receiving sentences ranging from 70 months to time served. One defendant – Mexican national Victor Pompa-Villa – is still at large.
Chris Klint is a web producer and breaking news reporter at Alaska Public Media. Reach him at cklint@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Chris here.
