Savoonga woman sentenced to 10 years for trafficking drugs to her community

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A Savoonga woman was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in prison for trafficking large amounts of illegal drugs into her small community on behalf of a drug trafficking organization allegedly run by a California inmate.

According to court documents, in December 2022, law enforcement officials identified a suspicious parcel addressed to Michelle Pungowiyi, 51, at a P.O. Box in Savoonga, a rural Alaska community with a population of around 835 people, located on St. Lawrence Island. Law enforcement officials, armed with a federal search warrant, opened the parcel and found over 3,000 illicit fentanyl pills.

A few weeks later, law enforcement officials identified another suspicious parcel addressed to Pungowiyi at the same P.O. Box. Law enforcement officials executed another federal search warrant and found over 4,000 illicit fentanyl pills.

In February 2023, law enforcement officials learned of a third parcel addressed to Pungowiyi at the same P.O. Box, but they were unable to stop the parcel in time, and it was delivered on Feb. 13.

Investigators determined that Pungowiyi was in contact with the alleged ringleader of the organization. Text messages between Pungowiyi and the alleged ringleader documented that the first two packages containing drugs never reached their Savoonga destination.

"Ms. Pungowiyi tried to traffic over 7,000 illegal fentanyl pills into the small community of Savoonga, enough to potentially kill the entire village population eight times over," said U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford for the District of Oregon. "Her role in this drug trafficking organization shows that suppliers and dealers will stop at nothing to exploit Alaskans, no matter where they are located. Thanks to the incredible law enforcement and prosecutorial work, we are taking drug traffickers out of the pipeline one after another."

"Ms. Pungowiyi trafficked deadly fentanyl into her own remote Alaskan village targeting her vulnerable community with enough poison to kill them all," said Robert A. Saccone, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. "Through Fentanyl Free America, DEA is working alongside our partners to disrupt the criminal networks responsible for flooding communities with deadly drugs and to hold accountable those who profit from dealing in death. We will continue to pursue traffickers at every level and use every available tool to protect the American people from this unprecedented threat."

"The distribution and use of illegal and dangerous narcotics have no place in the U.S. Postal Service and the State of Alaska. The conviction of Pungowiyi removes a plague from their community and a dangerous criminal," said Inspector in Charge Anthony Galetti of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Seattle Division. "Every day, Postal Inspectors here in Alaska work with our law enforcement partners to do everything we can to identify those responsible for using the U.S. Mail to transport illegal and dangerous narcotics and we thank them for their support and efforts in this investigation."

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska has been recused from this case expect for certain personnel. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D. Clymer from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York has been appointed as Special Attorney to the United States Attorney General to assist with this and other recused cases. He reports to and acts under the direction of the Deputy Attorney General, or his delegee, or U.S. Attorney Bradford in these cases. Special Attorney Clymer supervises personnel from the District of Alaska who have been exempted from the recusal.

The Drug Enforcement Administration Seattle Field Division Office and Anchorage District Office, U.S. Postal Inspection Service Seattle Division and Anchorage Domicile, and Alaska State Troopers investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Schroeder prosecuted the case.

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