The Federal Court in Fairbanks sentenced a Colorado man to 15 and a half years in prison on Friday according to the Department of Justice.

It was announced by U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler on Friday that 40-year-old Northglenn, Colorado resident Mario Gutierrez was sentenced by Judge Ralph Beistline to 186 months in prison followed by 36 months of supervised release for one count of drug conspiracy and one count of money laundering.

The sentencing stems from a case involving shipments of methamphetamines that Gutierrez shipped to Fairbanks to his co-conspirator there between July 2009 and August of 2010. Thoise shipments were paid for with deposits of approximately $347,000 in Fairbanks branches of Wells Fargo. His co-conspirator in Fairbanks was sentenced in October for his part in the year-long criminal activity. Jess Baird received a sentence of 91 months for his part in Gutierrez’s criminal enterprise.

Judge Beistline called the drug case a large-scale methamphetamine distribution scheme perpetrated on the Fairbanks community during Gutierrez’s sentencing hearing.

Special Agent Kenneth Hines of the Alaska’s IRS Criminal Investigation Unit said in a release, “The sentencing’s of Mario Gutierrez and his associate, Jess Baird, should let criminals who traffic methamphetamines in our communities know that their prison sentences will reflect the harm they inflict.”

The IRS, Postal Service, Alaska State Troopers, Fairbanks and North Pole Police all had a hand in the investigation that led to the prosecution of Gutierrez and Baird.