Anchorage, Alaska (KINY) – An Arizona man was handed a 10-year prison sentence, followed by three years of supervised release, for his involvement in trafficking hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills into Alaska over an extended period.
According to court records, Odarious Shaw, aged 25, orchestrated the distribution of fentanyl pills to Alaska, shipping them twice a week for over six months. The shipments ranged from 40,000 to 50,000 pills per delivery, with some instances seeing up to half a million pills dispatched at a time.
Investigations revealed Shaw’s operation involved obtaining pills in Arizona and instructing buyers in Alaska to wire $150 as confirmation of the transaction. Once confirmed, Shaw arranged for a courier to fly to Anchorage with the drugs concealed in checked luggage. Upon arrival, the courier would exchange the pills for cash from the buyer, then immediately return to Arizona with the proceeds.
On June 25, 2023, Shaw’s courier and co-defendant, Corrion James, aged 26, was apprehended at Anchorage’s Ted Stevens International Airport, carrying over 41,000 fentanyl pills from Phoenix, Arizona. James was arrested while attempting to sell the pills to a pre-arranged buyer. These pills had an estimated street value of $400,000 to $600,000 in Anchorage, and up to $4.8 million in rural Alaska.
Despite James’s arrest, Shaw persisted in his drug trafficking activities until he was apprehended in Arizona in August 2023. James pleaded guilty in February 2024 and received a prison sentence exceeding three years for his role in the conspiracy.
During sentencing, Chief U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason identified Shaw as a leader of the drug trafficking operation and expressed hope that this sentence would deter individuals driven by greed from trafficking this deadly drug into Alaska.
This case underscores the severity of the opioid crisis and the continued efforts to combat drug trafficking across state lines.
