Portage property owner pleads guilty to money laundering
By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times
An Anchorage man who used drug-trafficking money to buy real estate in Portage pleaded guilty July 19 to a felony count of structuring currency transactions.
The U.S. Attorney’s office reached a plea agreement with George Scott Shelley, 46. He faces up to five years in prison and forfeiture of his 100-acre plus Portage property, which is located on Wyatt’s Windy Road off the Portage Highway. It was being operated as the Portage Valley Cabins RV Park.
“Structuring currency deposits to avoid detection by law enforcement may seem like it would work, but it doesn’t and often results in a felony conviction, as it did here,” said Marcus Williams, the IRS Special Agent in Charge of Alaska.
Shelley was indicted by a grand jury on March 23 of this year.
In the indictment, prosecutors stated that around June 26, 1998, Shelley purchased the Portage property for $250,000 from a private individual, and that an escrow account was established at First National Bank of Alaska (FNBA) to handle payments from Shelley to the seller.
The real estate contract required a $2,000 monthly installment payment, with full principal and 7.5 percent annual interest due and payable July 9, 2005, prosecutors stated.
According to prosecutors, in 2005 Shelly received approximately $200,000 in U.S. Currency from an individual known to the defendant, and the funds were the proceeds of marijuana trafficking.
“Shelley did not ask the individual what the source of the funds was, and the individual did not directly tell Shelley that the money came from drug dealing,” prosecutors said. “Shelley and this individual had attempted to cultivate marijuana together in the late 1990’s.”
Prosecutors stated in the indictment that between April and October 2005, Shelley made 22 currency deposits totaling $197,320.
Prosecutors said Shelley “structured and assisted in structuring transactions with the FNBA, Key Bank, Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union, and Alaska Lumber and Pulp Supply Federal Credit Union by depositing currency and checks purchased with or representing currency into the FNBA escrow account in amounts less than $10,000.”
In April of 2007, the Alaska State Troopers Major Offenders Unit assisted the Alaska Bureau of Investigations with executing a search warrant to Shelley for stolen property. Several pieces of heavy equipment were recovered and seized including: a bulldozer, a backhoe, an excavator, two heavy-duty equipment trailers, a bobcat, and a travel trailer.
Under the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend a prison sentence on the low end of the guideline range. Shelley also faces a maximum of $250,000 fine and three years of supervised probation.
Shelley’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 5.
