Last Frontier News

(Fairbanks, AK) – On June 21, Superior Court Judge Kirk Schwalm sentenced 33-year-old Cody Stockton to 50 years for misconduct involving a controlled substance in the first degree. On June 22, Superior Court Judge Paul Lyle sentenced Stockton to 15 years for robbery in the first degree. The sentences were imposed for two separate incidents and the sentences will run consecutively for a total of 65 years to serve.

On Jan. 10, 2021, Stockton entered Wal-Mart, concealed property and attempted to leave without paying. When loss prevention officers confronted him about the concealed items, Stockton discharged a taser at the officers and fled on foot. Stockton was charged with robbery in the first degree.

After the robbery incident, Stockton fled to Seattle under an assumed name and began running the drug trafficking organization. A joint taskforce of law enforcement from different agencies began investigating Stockton. Investigators from the Alaska State Troopers, North Pole Police Department, Fairbanks Police Department, and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) uncovered a drug ring from Seattle to Fairbanks that was led by Stockton who used an alias “Randell Mailloux.” In February 2021, two large packages from Seattle to Fairbanks each respectively containing 427 gross grams and 453 gross grams of methamphetamine were linked to Stockton. Investigators also identified a system involving a woman who recruited and “trained women to carry narcotics in their body cavities on flights from Seattle to Fairbanks at the behest of Cody Stockton,” according to court documents. Stockton supplied drugs to various people and used women to body carry about three to six ounces of heroin two times a week to Fairbanks. Based on their investigation, law enforcement believed Stockton was a main supplier of heroin and methamphetamine to the Fairbanks area from February 2021 through April 2022. In April 2022, Stockton was arrested in Washington and extradited back to Alaska for prosecution for the robbery case and the separate drug case.

In December 2022, a jury found Stockton guilty of misconduct involving a controlled substance in the first degree and two counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance in the second degree. Prosecutor Runnels said evidence was presented during the trial that Stockton had previously described himself as “the Pablo Escobar of Fairbanks.” Additional evidence showed that even while incarcerated, Stockton was still trying to direct the sale of drugs by orchestrating and instructing others on how to mail books from a national chain with drugs hidden inside.

At sentencing, the two counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance in the second degree merged with the conviction for misconduct involving a controlled substance in the first degree. For the remaining conviction, Stockton faced a sentencing range between 5 and 99 years. In February 2023, a separate jury found Stockton guilty of robbery in the first degree. Stockton faced a presumptive sentencing range between 15 and 20 years for that conviction.

In sentencing Stockton to 50 years for misconduct involving a controlled substance in the first degree, Judge Schwalm categorized Stockton as a worst offender based on his criminal history. In sentencing Stockton to 15 years for robbery in the first degree, Judge Lyle emphasized that Stockton had no rehabilitative potential and zero respect for authority. In handing down the sentence, Judge Lyle stated the "only way to keep the public safe from Mr. Stockton is to keep Mr. Stockton away from the public."

The drug trafficking case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Katholyn Runnels of the Office of Special Prosecutions. The robbery case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Crail of the Fairbanks District Attorney’s Office.

Contact: Katholyn Runnels at 269-6250 or Elizabeth Crail at 451-5970.

Original source can be found here