January 2, 2024

Ava White, News Reporter

A coordinated sting operation between Alaska State Troopers and the US Postal Service resulted in the arrests of two people in Nome last week (Dec. 29). The arrests stopped a large drug shipment headed for the Nome region.

Nome residents, 43 year-old Toby Ernst and 35 year-old Evonne Newhall were arrested after a coalition of federal, state and local law enforcement worked with Nome postal officials to send an undercover officer to deliver the illegal drugs for what’s called a “controlled delivery” of a package.

Trooper spokesperson Austin McDaniel explains.

“A controlled delivery essentially uses law enforcement to attempt to deliver a package and determine who’s actually going to be the one receiving it.”

The package contained the equivalent of 887 doses of methamphetamine and has a street value of more than a $106 thousand in Nome according to a trooper dispatch.

Ernst was arrested and charged with Misconduct Involving Controlled Substances in the 3rd Degree. Newhall was arrested on a warrant from the Nome Court for Failure to Appear in October on a separate charge of Assault 4th Degree. Both are being held at the Anvil Mountain Correctional Center in Nome.

_{Photo at top: The defendants are being held at Anvil Mountain Correctional Center, a mid-level prison. (Margaret DeMaioribus; KNOM).}