A Selawik man faces a felony drug charge after authorities say he tried to bring cocaine home on a flight from Anchorage to Kotzebue.
Alaska State Troopers arrested Walter Lee Berry, 58, early Wednesday at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, according to a charging document.
Transportation Security Administration screeners at the airport found two vacuum-sealed bags of a “white, chalky substance” hidden inside a coffee container, the charging document says. The container was packed in a cooler with Berry’s name on it. The cooler had been checked for an Alaska Airlines flight to Kotzebue.
Officers found Berry sitting in a massage chair across from the departure gate. His boarding pass had a baggage tag that matched the cooler, and airport security video showed him checking in with it, according to the charges.
The substance weighed about 185 grams, or about 6.5 ounces, and field-tested positive for cocaine, the charges say. Troopers estimated that at $150 a gram, the drugs would sell for about $27,750 in Kotzebue and Selawik.
Berry declined to speak with law enforcement after his arrest, according to the charges.
He is charged with one count of misconduct involving a controlled substance, a felony. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
Berry made his first court appearance Thursday. He requested a public defender and did not enter a plea. A judge set bail at $5,000 cash and ordered drug testing as a condition of his release.
Berry remained jailed Thursday at the Anchorage Correctional Complex. His next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 19 in Anchorage.
