Second person charged in Nome cocaine bust

A second person has been arrested and charged after law enforcement officials seized a shipment of cocaine in Nome.

David Stickel, 31, faces a felony count of misconduct involving controlled substances in the third degree, a Class B felony, according to court documents filed on Friday.

His mother, Joanne Stickel, age 63, had been charged with the same crime, which is a class B felony.

The charging document filed in Nome’s Second Judicial District Court said that Anchorage-based U.S. Postal Inspectors seized a priority express package addressed to the “Stickel Family” on March 5. The sender was labeled “Grandmother” with an address in Carlsbad, California, a town north of San Diego. 

Investigators said that they obtained footage of David Stickel mailing the parcel from California and that he returned to Nome on the evening of March 5.

Joanne Stickel was arrested in Nome that evening after picking up the package at the post office and bringing it to her residence on East 4th Ave. Law enforcement officials said they had placed monitoring equipment inside the parcel that would alert them once it had been opened.

Investigators said the package contained 184 grams of cocaine, with an approximate street value of $27,600. 

Joanne Stickel’s arraignment took place on March 7 at the Unalakleet Courthouse. Magistrate Judge Heidi Ivanoff set a cash bail at $10,000. Bail was posted. 

“These charges are very serious,” Ivanoff said. “Nome is a hub community, so when drugs come into Nome, they tend to filter out into the villages, too.”

Joanne Stickel’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday, March 14, at 11 a.m. in the Unalakleet Courthouse.

David Stickel appeared in the Kotzebue Courthouse on Friday, March 9. Superior Court Judge David Roghair set bail at $10,000. His preliminary hearing has been scheduled for March 19 at 2:30 p.m. in the Nome Courthouse.