U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder announced on Wednesday that Kodiak man, Luke Bunting, age 23, went before U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess for sentencing on Tuesday. According to the Department of Justice, Judge Burgess sentenced Bunting to 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release that includes 6 months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service for his conviction of money laundering and drug possession with intent to distribute.

Buntings’ conviction and sentencing were the result of an investigation that was opened after the U.S. Postal Inspector in Anchorage seized three packages containing various drugs that was destined for Bunting in Kodiak. That discovery led to a search of Buntings’ residence that found “large amounts of marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products, psilocin mushrooms, cocaine, and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) packaged for sale,” the Department of Justice reported. Found with the drugs were three loaded handguns, $39,500 in cash and several cryptocurrency recovery codes.

The investigation found that Bunting, who worked as a substitute teacher at the high school, would deposit the proceeds of drug sales into banks and then move the money through applications such as Venmo and coinbase. DoJ estimates that at least $327,966 was pulled in by Bunting from his illegal drug enterprise.

Several Coast Guard personnel admitted to the Coast Guard Investigative Service that they acquired drugs from Bunting. As a result, those members were separated from the Coast Guard.

At sentencing, Judge Burgess commented “that he was concerned that Bunting was a “for profit” drug trafficker from a supportive family environment and did not appear to have an addiction to the drugs he was selling in the community

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