Petersburg police and the Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs task force arrested a Petersburg man this week in an investigation into two packages of methamphetamine mailed to town.
In a press release, police say they arrested 51-year-old Sam Nelson Wednesday afternoon for alleged crimes involving meth possession and distribution. The local police were assisted in their investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Postal Service.
Nelson is facing two counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance in the third degree, one count of misconduct involving a controlled substance in the fourth degree and a charge of evidence tampering.
A court filing by police alleges Nelson had two packages, both containing over 28 grams of meth, mailed to his post office box in Petersburg. Police say Nelson picked up one of the packages this week and was arrested outside of his home. The combined street value of the two packages is up to 28-thousand dollars according to police.
Nelson had a court appearance Thursday afternoon and was appointed a public defender. His bail was reduced to 20-thousand dollars and he has a preliminary hearing scheduled in February.
Joe Viechnicki is a reporter at KFSK in Petersburg.
