A Savoonga woman has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for her role in a drug trafficking case.
Michelle Pungowiyi, 51, was sentenced Thursday after federal investigators said she tried to receive thousands of fentanyl pills at a post office box in Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island.
The case ties one of Alaska’s most remote communities to a larger federal investigation that has tracked the flow of the deadly drug from Mexico to California and Oregon, and then into Alaska villages and cities.
In a press release Friday, federal prosecutors described the alleged organization as a "large-scale" trafficking ring targeting Alaska. More than 60 people have been charged in connection with the broader investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 
Court documents say investigators first identified a suspicious package addressed to Pungowiyi in December 2022. After obtaining a federal search warrant, law enforcement opened the parcel and found more than 3,000 illicit fentanyl pills.
A few weeks later, investigators intercepted another package addressed to Pungowiyi at the same post office box. A second search warrant found more than 4,000 additional fentanyl pills, prosecutors said. 
Investigators identified a third parcel in February 2023 but were unable to stop it before it was delivered to Savoonga on Feb. 13. Prosecutors said text messages showed Pungowiyi was in contact with the alleged leader of the drug trafficking organization and that the messages documented that the first two packages never reached Savoonga. 
Federal prosecutors said the organization was allegedly led by Heraclio Sanchez-Rodriguez, a California prison inmate accused of using contraband cellphones to communicate with suppliers in Mexico, leaders in California and Oregon, and distributors in Alaska. A 2024 federal announcement said investigators had intercepted about 36 kilograms of fentanyl, 27.3 kilograms of methamphetamine, 11.3 kilograms of heroin and 118 grams of cocaine connected to the alleged enterprise between February 2022 and July 2023. 
Prosecutors said the organization relied largely on drug packages sent through the U.S. Postal Service from Oregon and California to Alaska. Communities named in the broader case included Savoonga, Goodnews Bay, Tyonek and Sand Point, as well as larger hub communities including Anchorage and Fairbanks. 
“Ms. Pungowiyi tried to traffic over 7,000 illegal fentanyl pills into the small community of Savoonga, enough to potentially kill the entire village population eight times over,” U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford for the District of Oregon said in a press release. “Her role in this drug trafficking organization shows that suppliers and dealers will stop at nothing to exploit Alaskans, no matter where they are located.”
The case comes amid continued concern over fentanyl deaths in Alaska. A 2025 Alaska Department of Health report found that drug overdoses remained a major public health concern, with fentanyl contributing to 73% of overdose deaths in 2024. The state recorded 339 overdose deaths that year, a 5% decline from 2023, according to the report. 
The Drug Enforcement Administration Seattle Field Division Office and Anchorage District Office, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Seattle Division and Anchorage Domicile, and Alaska State Troopers investigated the case.
