(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)

Leader of ring that sent drugs from California to Juneau sentenced to 21 years

The operation involved multiple couriers and modes of transportation, according to the DOJ.

A California woman was sentenced to over two decades in prison for her role in a drug-trafficking organization that transported “pounds” of drugs to Juneau, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Alecia Trapps, 58, of Manteca, California, was sentenced earlier this month to 21 years for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced in a news release. Trapps led a drug-trafficking organization that sent multiple pounds of methamphetamine and heroin from California to Juneau where profits were greater, according to court documents.

The operation involved multiple couriers and modes of transportation, according to the DOJ, and in at least one instance Juneau-bound drugs were seized in Washington state as a courier tried to board a ferry.

Trapps was arrested in 2018, the Empire previously reported. She was one of six arrested following a year-long investigation led by the FBI.

Other agencies involved include the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives, the Modesto Police Department, California Highway Patrol and the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office of Washington states, according to the DOJ.

Trapps is the last defended to be sentenced in connection to the case, according to the DOJ, which said co-defendants were sentenced as follows:

Jimmy Brantley was sentenced to 10 years in prison; Carmen Conejo was sentenced to five years of probation; Ernest Westley was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison; Sheena Taylor was sentenced to 10 years, three months in prison; and Joseph Vasquez Jr. was sentenced to 26 years, eight months in prison.

• Contact Ben Hohenstatt at (907)308-4895 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenHohenstatt

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