ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - In a story Aug. 27 about arrests in a federal drug case, The Associated Press reported erroneously where defendant Bryan M. Bledsoe was employed. A spokesman for McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas said Bledsoe was employed by an airline at the airport, not the airport itself.
A corrected version of the story is below:
3 charged with Las Vegas-to-Alaska drug conspiracy
Federal grand injury indicts 3 on charges of shipping cocaine from Las Vegas to Alaska
By DAN JOLING
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A Las Vegas airport employee and two other Nevada men have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Anchorage on charges conspiring to distribute cocaine in Alaska.
The indictment unsealed Wednesday charges Dewane E. Blue, 37, Bryan M. Bledsoe, 36, and Daren D. Cole, 47, with conspiring to distribute at least 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of cocaine between Las Vegas and Alaska.
Cole was arrested June 1 and is jailed in Anchorage. Bledsoe was arrested Tuesday and Blue on Wednesday in Las Vegas, where they were scheduled for arraignment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Russo said the indictment was handed down Aug. 19.
Bledsoe was an employee of an airline at McCarran International Airport.
According to the indictment, beginning in 2012, Blue obtained cocaine for distribution in Alaska and other states and gave it to Bledsoe, who would carry the drugs past airport security.
Inside the terminal, Bledsoe would hand the cocaine back to Blue or others, who would place it in carry-on luggage destined for Alaska.
Money obtained from selling the drug was sent to Blue by mail or a parcel service, prosecutors said. Four parcels contained $414,230 were seized. The government will seek forfeiture of the cash and several vehicles.
Cole, according to the indictment, dropped off money to Blue on June 1 for a drug purchase, and Bledsoe used his credentials to carry 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of cocaine into the airport.
Blue gave the drugs to Cole in an airport bathroom, according to the indictment. Investigators seized the cocaine and arrested Cole before he boarded a flight to Anchorage, prosecutors said.
Conviction on the drug conspiracy charge results in a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison, prosecutors said.
An attorney for Cole, D. Scott Dattan, was in court Wednesday afternoon and not immediately available for comment. Online court records did not show attorneys for Blue or Bledsoe.
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