Nome man arrested on drug charge
Law enforcement last week intercepted a package containing 88.7 grams of methamphetamine shipped from California to Toby Ernst in Nome. Nome and Kotzebue Alaska State Troopers Statewide Drug Enforcement Unit, Nome troopers and Nome Police Department conducted a controlled delivery of the parcel on December 29, and arrested Toby Ernst, 43, and Yvonne Newhall, 35, of Nome. Toby Ray Ernst was charged with Misconduct Involving Controlled Substances in the third degree and Newhall was arrested on a no bail arrest warrant from the Nome Court for Failure to Appear on a prior charge of assault in the fourth degree. Both were remanded to the Anvil Mountain Correctional Center. At press time, Newhall’s involvement was unclear.
The 88.7 grams of seized methamphetamine is approximately 887 user doses and has a Nome street value of approximately $106,320.00.
A trooper press release said the controlled delivery stemmed from a joint, on-going, investigation into the distribution of narcotics to
Nome between the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Nome AST drug enforcement unit.
According to court papers, the Nome Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics Team seized a priority express parcel addressed to Toby Ernst, which was suspected to contain narcotics, on December 19. Investigators obtained a federal search warrant and inspected the package and indeed found and seized 88.7 grams of meth. “The sheer amount of methamphetamine in the package was consistent with th distribution of narcotics,” the charging document says. Nome WAANT monitored the package as it was picked up by Ernst and taken to his residence.
The controlled delivery operation led to the arrest of Ernst on Dec. 29. On Saturday, Dec. 30, Ernst had his first felony appearance in court. The court set bail at $3,000. The Public Defender Agency is representing Ernst; the state office of special prosecutions entered its appearance in this case as well. The next court appearance is scheduled for January 9 at 2:30 pm for a preliminary hearing.