ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A federal grand jury in Alaska returned an indictment last week charging an Anchorage man and woman with conspiring to traffic large quantities of fentanyl to and within Alaska and laundering over half a million dollars in drug proceeds.
According to court documents, between August 2024 and February 2025, Corey Clifton, 51, and Elizabeth Cruickshank, 44, conspired together, and with others, to distribute and possess with intent to distribute over 4.5 kilograms of fentanyl in Alaska. Specifically, on Aug. 6, 2024, Clifton allegedly shipped a parcel from Washington to Cruickshank in Alaska. The parcel contained over 4.2 kilograms of fentanyl pills packaged in small baggies with stickers inside drink mix containers.
U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Alaska
Court documents further detail that between Nov. 7, 2024, and Feb. 19, 2025, Cruickshank allegedly attempted to possess fentanyl with intent to distribute on three separate occasions.
On Aug. 8, 2024, Clifton is also accused of possessing two firearms and ammunition as a felon. On the date of incident, Clifton had two prior serious drug felony convictions from 2015 and 2017 in the Alaska Superior Court in Kenai and U.S. District Court in Anchorage, respectively.
The indictment further alleges that between April 2024 to 2025, Clifton and Cruickshank conspired together to launder over $500,000 in drug proceeds.
Clifton is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, one count of attempted possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, one count of being a felon in possession of ammunition and firearms and one count of money laundering conspiracy. Cruickshank is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, three counts of attempted possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and one count of money laundering conspiracy. The defendants made their initial court appearances yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kyle F. Reardon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska. If convicted, they face a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman for the District of Alaska, Special Agent in Charge David F. Reames of the Seattle Field Division, Inspector in Charge Anthony Galetti of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Seattle Division and Special Agent in Charge Adam Jobes of the IRS Criminal Investigation’s (IRS CI) Seattle Field Office made the announcement.
The DEA Seattle Field Division and Anchorage District Office, USPIS Anchorage Domicile and IRS CI Seattle Field Office are investigating the case, with assistance from the Alaska State Troopers and Alaska High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Initiative’s Southcentral Area-Wide Narcotics (SCAN) team.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mac Caille Petursson and Cody Tirpak are prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of the Alaska Parcel Interdiction Initiative, a statewide partnership between the U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Alaska State Troopers and other local law enforcement to disrupt the flow of dangerous narcotics into Alaska through the mail. Together, the agencies work tirelessly to interdict suspicious U.S. Postal Service and other carriers’ parcels, with a goal of seizing narcotics before they enter communities and prosecuting those responsible for trafficking drugs to Alaska.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline) a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime and drug trafficking. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
