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Togiak woman busted smuggling drugs, says DPD

KDLG

Dillingham police arrested Josephine Williams, 35, of Togiak for trespassing at the Bristol Inn. A search of her belongings turned up 22 grams of black tar heroin and 25 grams of methamphetamine, which she said she was transporting from Anchorage for a yet-unnamed man in Togiak.

An effort to smuggle heroin and meth from Anchorage to Togiak went awry in Dillingham Monday, after the mule got picked up for trespassing downtown.

Dillingham Police took a report that Josephine Williams, a 35-year-old from Togiak, was intoxicated at the Bristol Inn, disturbing guests and refusing to leave. Police said that after they arrived they told her to leave the property several more times. When she continued to refuse, Williams was arrested. Her blood alcohol content, according to DPD, was .286 percent.

An officer searched Williams’ belongings at the jail.  In the lining of her bra, police found 22 grams of black tar heroin and 25 grams of methamphetamine.

It was a “large seizure for the Dillingham police," said DPD chief Dan Pasquariello, who spent years working alongside the state trooper Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics Team.

“Around Bristol Bay people sell one tenth of a gram of heroin for $100, and they sell two tenths of a gram of methamphetamine for $100. If you do math on the seizure, the total value of those drugs here in Bristol Bay would be $34,500," he said.

According to the police report, Williams said an individual from Togiak paid for her trip to Anchorage, where she was given the drugs to transport to Togiak. When she got stranded in Dillingham on the way back, the individual sent her $380 dollars through Western Union for the cost of her hotel.

Williams told police the individual was supposedly going to pay her rent for a month, approximately $700, for muling in the drugs to Togiak.

At this time, police are not naming the suspected mastermind of this poorly orchestrated drug smuggling operation.

Only Williams is facing charges: she was booked on two counts of second degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, plus one count of trespassing.

The defendant was tearful at her arraignment in Dillingham Court Tuesday, and said she was hopeful she could go home soon.

Williams was appointed an attorney, and her bail was set at $2000. Her next appearance in court is scheduled for December 15.

Contact the author at avery@kdlg.org or 907-842-5281.