Goose Creek employee sentenced for smuggling drugs into facility

ANCHORAGE — A former Alaska Department of Corrections employee was sentenced to eight months in federal prison Tuesday for his role in smuggling drugs into Goose Creek Correctional Facility (GCCC).

According to acting U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder, 33-year old Adam Jason Spindler of Wasilla, also had his 2011 pickup truck seized, faces a $1,400 fine, must perform 120 hours of community service and has three years of supervised probation after his release. On Aug. 26, 2016, Spindler pleaded guilty to one count of drug conspiracy and one count of possession of controlled substances with the intent to distribute in front of U.S. District Court Judge Sharon L. Gleason.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Hattan, prosecutor in the case, between at least March 30-May 23, 2016, Spindler agreed on multiple occasions to smuggle drugs into GCCC for several different inmates housed in the section of GCCC that Spindler, a corrections officer at the time, was responsible for. More specifically, court records stated Spindler met with several inmates’ respective drug associates at locations outside the facility to obtain drugs, and then smuggled them to inside GCCC to a specific inmate. The court stated as a corrections officer, Spindler had to pass through a metal detector but was not routinely subjected to pat-down or further searches upon entering.

Court records stated to coordinate drug smuggling schemes, Spindler obtained contact information directly from each co-conspirator inmate’s drug courier(s), and then communicated with that courier via telephone and text message to arrange meetings to obtain the contraband outside of GCCC. Records state one scheme had Spindler conspiring with inmate Edward Wayne "Bigs" George and George’s girlfriend, Taylor Hunter, to smuggle in drugs for distribution to other inmates.

Records state all three coordinated drug delivery directly. Court documents stipulate between May 5-25, 2016, Spindler met Hunter approximately 35 times. Records state on May 23, 2016, as law enforcement officers looked on, Spindler, dressed in his official uniform, met Hunter at a Wasilla McDonald’s to retrieve drugs earmarked for George. The Court stated Hunter then got into Spindler’s truck giving him a plastic baggie containing heroin and marijuana. Spindler then drove to GCCC to begin work where he was detained and subsequently arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Spindler admitted that he was paid approximately $1,400 altogether for smuggling drugs into GCCC, but made it clear that he was doing it for the “excitement” not the money. At sentencing, Gleason noted the seriousness of Spindler’s crimes and recognized “the enormous” and multi-faceted impact that introducing drugs into a prison environment has to GCCC inmates, GCCC personnel, and public trust. In addition, the judge specifically noted the need for the sentence imposed to deter others by sending the “message that this conduct cannot be tolerated,” particularly by a corrections officer who “betrayed public trust.”

Gleason also noted that Spindler’s crimes were not a “one time event or one time error in judgment,” but spanned two months, and were perpetrated in “a prison environment.” The judge specifically noted being “troubled” by Spindler being corrupted by the lure of, in his words, “excitement.”

George, 27, was previously sentenced on April 6, 2017, to 33 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for his role in the conspiracy. At his sentencing, Gleason noted that the offense endangered not just the other GCCC inmates but, importantly, GCCC employees, “who leave their families every day” to work within the state’s largest prison. Taylor Hunter, 20, is scheduled for sentencing May 17.

“The vast majority of government employees work hard every day to serve the people of the nation and our state,” said Schroder. “However, when one of them becomes corrupt, it is necessary to hold them accountable.”

“Over the past year, we’ve developed strong working relationships, especially with the Department of Corrections to identify possible cases of corruption within our prisons,” said FBI special agent in charge, Marlin Ritzman. “This case is just the beginning of our collaboration with DOC. FBI Anchorage is committed to rooting out corruption at whatever level it exists.”