Bootlegger/drug dealer arrested

The Bethel office of the Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics Team (WAANT) on 06/01/2020, received information from a citizen source that Samuel Davis (age 31) of Elim had traveled to Anchorage and purchased large amounts of alcohol, marijuana bud, and DABS. (DABS is a street slang for hashish which is a marijuana concentrate and a Scheduled III Controlled substance under Alaska Statute.)

Davis was intending to drive his boat from Fairbanks to Elim where he was intending to sell the alcohol, marijuana and DABS. To accomplish this, Davis would be traveling down the Yukon River and across a portion of Norton Sound.

On 06/03/2020, the Nome WAANT office received information form a citizen source that Davis had arrived in Elim, a local option community that bans the importation and sale of alcoholic beverages. Bethel WAANT investigators applied for and were granted a search warrant for Davis’ Elim residence.

NOME WAANT, AST and AWT traveled to Elim and executed the search warrant which lead to the seizure of the following items: approximately 20L (5.28 gal) of distilled spirits approximately 1,081 gross grams (2.38 lbs.) of marijuana bud, and approximately 665 gross grams (1.46 lbs.) of DABS.

The approximate Elim street value of the distilled spirits is $5,200, of the marijuana bud is $54,050 and of the DABS is $66,500. The boat used to transport the alcohol and controlled substances, a seventeen foot 2000 Key Largo 170 boat with a 115HP Yamaha motor, was also seized and transported out of Elim; the boat’s estimated value is $25,000.

Davis was subsequently arrested and remanded at AMCC on the charges of Mics 3rd Degree (Hashish), MICS 4th Degree (marijuana), Alcohol Importation and License or Permit Required; Presumption concerning Possession for Sale. Davis is being held without bail pending arraignment.