Court records detail Goose Creek bust

KNIK-FAIRVIEW — Recorded phone conversations between an Anchorage woman and an inmate at Goose Creek Correctional Center were key to unraveling a scheme to smuggle methamphetamine and heroin inside Alaska’s newest prison.

Alaska State Troopers arrested Gwendoline Maka, 25, of Anchorage following a traffic stop about 6:30 p.m., Feb. 11, according to an affidavit written by trooper investigator Nasruk Nay.

Alaska Department of Corrections Officials told troopers they had been monitoring phone calls between Maka and Mavaega Brandon Tautua, an inmate at Goose Creek serving time for first-degree assault since Feb. 2, according to the affidavit.

Tautua “and Maka have been discussing the fact that they were gathering money together to purchase “fast,” or methamphetamine, and “slow,” or heroin,” Nay wrote. “GCCC has several recorded phone calls between Tautua and Maka where they update each other about how much money has been amassed and arranging for Maka to meet the drug dealer to get the drugs.”

While the duo continued planning, corrections officials continued listening, according to the affidavit. In a Feb. 9 phone call, Tautua told Maka to “weigh the drugs and keep them cool,” according to the affidavit. “In a later call she told him that the actual weight of the drugs was 25 of one type and 6.8 of the other.”

Maka told Tautua in a Feb. 10 conversation “he’d better have a plan and be ready for a Feb. 11, 7 p.m. visit that she is coming to,” Nay added.

Troopers stopped Maka’s black Honda Pilot at about Mile 2, Knik-Goose Bay Road en route to Goose Creek to deliver the drugs, according to the affidavit. When troopers obtained a warrant to search Maka’s car, they found 25 grams of black tar heroin, and about 7 grams of meth. After checking a law enforcement database, they also found Maka was driving with a revoked license, according to the affidavit.

Maka told troopers she spent about $1,900 on the drugs, according to the affidavit.

The drugs seizure triggered Tautua’s arrest, as well as the arrests of two other Goose Creek inmates: Aaron Aasa, 25, serving 11 of 15 years on a 2011 conviction for first-degree robbery armed with a deadly weapon, and Kyle S. Hansen, 27, whom troopers identified in a media release as responsible for gathering together the funds from prisoners to buy the drugs.

Hansen is currently in prison on a probation revocation following a 2009 felony driving under the influence conviction, according to court documents. The 2013 violation would be his second revocation for the original DUI charge.

Troopers seized $2,610 of accumulated funds from a bank account used to buy the drugs, according to the trooper release.

Maka is charged with second-degree drug misconduct for the manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance; third-degree drug misconduct for possession with the intent to deliver; two counts of fourth-degree drug misconduct for simple possession; one count of fourth-degree drug misconduct for using a building or vehicle; one count of first-degree promoting contraband; and one count of driving without a revoked license.

The second-degree drug charge is a class A felony, which could result in a maximum 20-year sentence upon conviction. The third-degree drug charge is a class B felony, which could result in a maximum 10-year sentence upon conviction. The fourth-degree drug and contraband counts are class C felonies and could receive a maximum of five years each upon conviction. Driving with a revoked license is a class A misdemeanor.

Tautua was charged with conspiracy to commit second-degree drug misconduct, also a class a felony, as well as conspiracy to commit third-degree drugs misconduct, and first-degree contraband charges, both class C felonies.

Aasa faces charges of conspiracy to commit second- and third-degree drugs misconduct, a class A and class B felony respectively, and one count of first-degree promoting contraband, a class C felony.

Hansen faces one count each of second-degree drugs misconduct, third-degree drugs misconduct, and one count of first-degree promoting contraband.

Maka is scheduled for a bail hearing at 1 p.m., today.

Tautua, Aasa, and Hansen face a preliminary hearing scheduled for 1 p.m., Feb. 23.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com or on Twitter @reporterbriano.