It was announced on Friday by U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler that 52-year-old Fairbanks resident William E. Kaiser was sentenced in U.S. District Court after pleading guilty to distribution of Marijuana.

U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline sentenced Kaiser to 40 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute marijuana. The charges arose from a 2012 seizure of $40,000 in cash that Kaiser had sent to his suppllier in Oregon.

Kaiser admmitted in court that he had an ongoing agreement with his supplier to buy marijuana for $2,500 per pound and sent cash to Ortegon on a regular basis. He admitted to receiving between 103 and 175 pounds in a dozen shipments from mid-2011 until June of 2012.

This was not the first time Kaiser has been incarcerated for marijuana. He had been arrested and imprisoned for cultivating over 380 plants in 2011 and was also charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

He was on superviced release from that incidence when he was arrested on the current charges.