$11,000 worth of heroin seized from box of chocolates

PALMER — A drug-sniffing dog at an Anchorage post office led Alaska State Troopers to a sizable heroin bust.

According to an affidavit Alaska State Trooper Shayne Calt filed in the case against Amber O’Dell, 37, of Palmer, federal postal inspector Kimberly Davis called troopers Feb. 14 to report their dog had sniffed out an express mail package from Victorville, Calif., heading to O’Dell at her Palmer post office box.

Inside a box of candy in the package, troopers found 29 grams of heroin. O’Dell eventually told troopers she sold the drugs at $400 per gram, which would put the value of the drugs at more than $11,000.

“I decided to attempt to conduct a controlled delivery of the package. Dallas removed the majority of the heroin from the package and replaced it with fake heroin, leaving a small amount of the real heroin inside the package,” Calt wrote.

On Feb. 15, the post office delivered the package to O’Dell’s box. She took it out to her car and opened it up. That’s when Calt and Palmer Police Department Investigator Dwayne Shelton descended on her.

“O’Dell initially denied opening the package. O’Dell claimed she didn’t know what package we were talking about. We could see the open package on the seat of her truck and we seized it,” Calt wrote.

Right about here is where O’Dell started to cooperate. She told troopers she had cash and methamphetamines in her purse. Calt found six grams of meth, two of heroin, a digital scale and $1,701 in the purse.

“I also observed two Western Union receipts totaling $3,000 sent to Victorville,” Calt wrote.

O’Dell later talked to troopers at their Palmer post.

“O’Dell admitted that she sells heroin by the gram for $400 a gram. O’Dell is not employed and stated that she uses the money to pay her bills and support her children,” Calt wrote.

She’d buy the drugs an ounce at a time, something she said she’d done four or five times in the past year.

O’Dell was charged with drug misconduct and jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility on $25,000 bail. Jail records Saturday morning showed she was still there.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.