A Juneau grand jury indicted a man last week on second-degree drug misconduct for allegedly engaging in shipping heroin through the mail to Juneau, prosecutors say.
Ryan Jerome Bradshaw, 28, was indicted for second-degree misconduct after United States Postal Inspectors (USPSI) intercepted a mail parcel on May 15, according to charging documents. Inspectors found a parcel from a known drug shipper, according to the indictment, which was addressed to Jeremy Herrin at 9180 Cinema Drive.
Investigators found 10 grams of heroin in the parcel, prosecutors say, and then learned that Herrin had called the Mendenhall U.S. Post Office multiple times checking on the package and had subscribed to electronic updates on the package. Alaska State Trooper Norman Carson wrote in a probable cause statement that he obtained a search warrant for to search any premises or vehicle where the parcel would be when it was opened.
Investigators then monitored the parcel and placed a representative sample of heroin in it, according to charging documents. When a USPS employee called Herrin when the package arrived at the post office May 17, the indictment states, Herrin told the employee the package was for Bradshaw and that Bradshaw would be picking it up.
Bradshaw came to the post office about 15 minutes after the phone call and signed for the package, Carson’s report states. Carson wrote that he watched Bradshaw walk away from the post office and open the package. Carson then called for other officers, according to his report, and they detained Bradshaw.
Bradshaw admitted to investigators he had bought the heroin and had paid for it through a Western Union money transfer, according to the indictment. Bradshaw told them he was using Herrin’s address as the shipping destination, and that he was going to give Herrin some of the heroin as a form of payment, Carson’s report states. Bradshaw told investigators he is a heroin user and sells some of it to help pay for his habit, according to charging documents.
According to online court records, Bradshaw made bail the following day and was released. The indictment does not mention whether Herrin was indicted, and online court records don’t show anything for him save for past minor offenses.
Former Assembly candidate indicted on PFD fraud charges
A Juneau grand jury on Thursday indicted former Assembly candidate Loretto Lee Jones for Permanent Fund Dividend fraud and second-degree theft.
Charges in the case were intially filed against Jones, 63, in Februrary, and Jones told the Empire at the time she planned to fight the charges.
Assistant Attorney General Lisa Kelley, who is prosecuting the case for the Office of Special Prosecutions, said Tuesday that the charges were filed via information earlier this year ahead of the grand jury to get the case underway.
According to charging documents, an investigator from the Department of Revenue’s Criminal Investigations Unit (CIU) found that Jones had been absent from Alaska for approximately 260 days during 2015 and that she still applied for a PFD and answered “no” to each question about being absent from Alaska for more than 90 or 180 days.
The investigator, Nate Imes, combined records from Alaska Airlines, the Alaska Marine Highway System and Jones’ travel files, according to charging documents. Based on Jones’ own documentation, according to the indictment, she had been gone for 205 days in 2015.
[More on the initial charges here]
Those who are absent from Alaska for more than 180 days must be absent on an allowable absence to qualify for the PFD, according to the PFD’s website. People are required to report their absences if they are gone from Alaska for 90 total days out of a year. Charging documents make no mention of Jones reporting an absence, but read that Jones denied being out of state for more than 90 days.
Jones ran for an Assembly position in 2017.
Other indictments
• Jason Augie Nunooruk, 39, and Juliana Rose Stepanoff, 38, were indicted on one charge each of first-degree promoting contraband (a class C felony).
• Travis Ian Johnson, 35, was indicted on one charge of second-degree burglary (a class C felony) and first-degree theft (a class B felony).
• A 38-year-old man was indicted on second-degree assault (a class B felony), third-degree assault (a class C felony) and fourth-degree assault (a class A misdemeanor).
• Calvin Boord, 48, was indicted on a charge of second-degree theft (a class C felony).
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
