California woman arrested, charged with distributing meth that caused overdose death of Unalaska worker in Homeland Security Task Force case

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A California woman was arrested last week in Santa Barbara, California, after a federal grand jury in Alaska returned an indictment charging her with distributing methamphetamine that resulted in the fatal overdose of an Unalaska fishing industry worker.

According to court documents, between Jan. 21 and Feb. 2, 2025, Darlene Moreno, 44, of Port Hueneme, California, distributed methamphetamine to a 48-year-old victim in Unalaska. On Feb. 2, the victim allegedly used the methamphetamine and fatally overdosed. Law enforcement recovered a baggie of crystal-like substance from the victim and sent the substance for testing. Lab results confirmed the substance was 98% pure methamphetamine. The State of Alaska medical examiner ruled the victim's cause of death as methamphetamine intoxication.

Court documents allege that investigators found social media conversations between the victim and Moreno discussing the purchase of methamphetamine. Moreno allegedly shipped a package containing methamphetamine from California to Unalaska on Jan. 21, 2025. The victim picked up the package on Jan. 31, two days before they fatally overdosed.

Moreno is charged with one count of distribution of methamphetamine resulting in death and one count of use of a communication facility in committing, causing and facilitating the commission of a drug trafficking felony. The defendant is scheduled to make her initial court appearance today before a U.S. Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. If convicted, she faces between 20 years to life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman of the District of Alaska, Special Agent in Charge Paul Schultz of the Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) Northwest Field Office and Chief Kim Hankins of the Unalaska Police Department made the announcement.

The CGIS Northwest Field Office and Unalaska Police Department are investigating the case, with assistance from the FBI Anchorage Field Office and U.S. Postal Inspection Service Anchorage Domicile. The FBI Los Angeles Field Office, Oxnard Police Department in California, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department in California and the Ventura County Sheriff's Department in California assisted with operational support.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mandy Mackenzie is prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Region One comprises agents and officers from Federal Bureau of Investigation; U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations - Seattle; the United States Attorney's Office(s) for the Districts of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Eastern Washington, and Western Washington; the Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; U.S. Marshals Service; Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation Division; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP); CBP - Office of Field Operations; CBP - Air & Marine Operations; U.S. Border Patrol; U.S. Coast Guard, Coast Guard Investigative Service; and Transportation Security Administration, Law Enforcement/Federal Air Marshal Service, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska.

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