Three Wrangell residents are being charged with felonies for manufacturing or delivering methamphetamine.
39-year-old Justin Churchill, 38-year-old Richard Eklund, who is also known as Daniel, and 39-year-old Cooper Seimears were arraigned in the Wrangell Courthouse on May 1.
Wrangell police officers arrested them the day before.
The local department was assisted by the Alaska Wildlife Troopers and a regional drug enforcement team, Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs. Investigators identified and seized a suspicious package in the mail around April 25 and found 88 grams of methamphetamine. They put the package back into the mail, without the drugs, and continued tracking it.
Officers said that Churchill picked up the package when it was delivered to Wrangell and got in a Ford truck with Ecklund. They drove to a residence in the 100 block of Howell Way where police said they met up with Seimears. Soon after, Seimears left the area in his Chevrolet pickup and the other two men left in the Ford pickup.
Law enforcement followed them to a logging road out of town off of Spur Road and arrested them there.
The 88 grams of methamphetamine found in the package is worth $17,600 on the street, according to a press release.
Seimears was arrested earlier this year on drug-related charges, but that case has since been dropped.
Churchill and Seimears are being held on $15,000 bail. Ecklund’s bail is set at $20,000 due to a previous escape charge 20 years ago.
Their preliminary hearings are scheduled for May 9 at 10 a.m. at the Wrangell Courthouse.
