Andy Straley, 50, was arrested at the airport in Anchorage last week with more than 100 grams of methamphetamine in a suitcase.
On Nov. 19, Andy Straley checked in for a flight to his hometown of Dillingham at the Anchorage International Airport. According to police, he told another passenger that that he needed to “go pick something up” before the flight left.
An investigator had already recently received a tip from a confidential informant that Straley had attempted to sell meth in Dillingham.
Straley arrived back at the airport fewer than 10 minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart. But when a police car marked “K9 Unit” pulled up beside Straley, police say the vehicle he was in drove away “as if to avoid contact with the police.”
The vehicle parked again minutes later in a different location, and Straley exited, heading for the Dillingham-bound flight with a blue carry-on suitcase.
Police detained Straley, and a drug-sniffing dog indicated his suitcase smelled of drugs. Law enforcement searched the bag and seized 115 grams of meth as well as drug paraphernalia. The investigator noted that a single dose of methamphetamine is roughly 50 milligrams, so the quantity in the suitcase is “indicative of a distribution quantity.”
In Bristol Bay, 115 grams of methamphetamine has a street value of $55,200, according to the Dillingham Police Department.
Straley faces the federal offense of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
In the past, the Dillingham man has been vocal about his hope that a Neighborhood Watch program would take shape in his neighborhood on Emperor Road to combat drug crimes. To that end, Straley told KDLG in 2016 that he installed cameras on his property.
He said, “We're just going to protect our belongings from the drug-related crime that seems to be just sweeping this town like nothing I've ever seen."
Contact the author at avery@kdlg.org or 907-842-5281.
