ANCHORAGE – A California man was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Timothy M. Burgess to 25 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, attempted distribution of methamphetamine and cocaine, maintaining a place for drug purposes and illegally possessing firearms.
According to court documents, Antoine Lapoleon Davis, aka “Shorty,” 49, trafficked large amounts of methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine to Alaska through the U.S. mail and distributed it in the Anchorage area during 2017 and 2018. He was convicted by a federal jury in May 2021.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed a search warrant on Davis’s Anchorage apartment on October 4, 2018, where they seized methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, four firearms and other drug dealing paraphernalia. Davis later told the FBI that he distributed nearly three kilograms of methamphetamine and half a kilogram of cocaine per month as well as heroin and crack cocaine. He also stated that he obtained the firearms found in his apartment to defend his drug supply. The firearms included three handguns and a semi-automatic rifle that Davis referred to as a “chopper.”
Davis also mailed two parcels containing drugs and guns that were intercepted by the U.S. Postal Inspectors in 2017. One parcel sent from Anchorage to Arizona contained methamphetamine, meth pills and multiple firearms. The second package sent from California to Anchorage contained nearly two kilograms of methamphetamine and cocaine. Investigators linked Davis to the two parcels through forensic fingerprinting and handwriting analysis as well as post office surveillance footage.
In issuing the sentence Judge Burgess noted that Davis returned to criminal conduct less than a year after serving a 16-year sentence in California on very similar charges. According to court documents, Davis has been incarcerated or on parole for almost the entirety of his adult life – from 1993 to the present.
“We will not idly stand by while dealers peddle their devastating drugs to Alaskans,” said U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker for the District of Alaska. “We take drug trafficking crimes very seriously in Alaska and we will continue to vigorously prosecute traffickers, wherever they may live, for their illegal actions. This significant sentence should serve as a warning to anyone considering trafficking drugs in our state that, together with our law enforcements partners, we will investigate and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.”
“The defendant was a prolific drug trafficker who harmed Alaskan communities by distributing substantial amounts of illegal narcotics in the Anchorage area,” said Antony Jung, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Anchorage Field Office. “The FBI is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to prevent offenders from plaguing Alaskan communities with illegal drugs and weapons, and we will continue to purposefully identify, disrupt, and dismantle drug trafficking enterprises, in an effort to make our communities safer.”
“We will not sit back while individuals like Davis leave a path of destruction in their wake” said Inspector in Charge Anthony Galetti, “The sentencing of Davis leaves a clear and lasting impact on the communities of Alaska. It shows the citizens we will work tirelessly to bring large scale dealers like Davis to justice. This should also serve as a reminder to those who think they can exploit members of our community; we will join our efforts together as law enforcement agencies and find you. Cases like these don’t come together without teamwork and we thank all agencies involved”.
The FBI Safe Streets Task Force, the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Anchorage Police Department (APD) investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kayla Doyle, Jennifer Ivers and Ryan Tansey prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
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