An Anchorage attorney whose license was suspended in February is now jailed on felony federal charges involving drug trafficking and weapons.
Justin Facey (U.S. Attorney’s Office)
Justin Abbott Facey, a defense attorney who operated out of an office on Eighth Avenue, was arrested Wednesday after a federal grand jury indicted him on charges of maintaining a drug-involved premises, possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possession of firearms by a prohibited person.
Nick Vieth, an Idaho attorney and former federal defender, was appointed Wednesday to represent Facey. He declined to comment when reached by phone.
The indictment itself provides a few details. But a motion for detention filed Wednesday by federal prosecutors describes a stunning array of accusations in the case against Facey.
The filing describes the 44-year-old attorney as addicted to methamphetamine, coercing sex acts from minors and clients of his legal services, and providing legal services and other assistance to an imprisoned drug dealer.
“Having consciously adopted the persona of a self-described ‘cartel attorney’ and fueled by a spiraling addiction to methamphetamine and compulsive sexual conduct, the defendant fully committed to the bit, engaging in a crime spree threatening the safety of the community … ” the motion states.
Prosecutors say Facey hit the radar of law enforcement in 2023 when they became aware that he was facilitating a deadly drug ring run by a California prisoner, Heraclio Sanchez-Rodriguez.
The motion includes what prosecutors say are text messages from June 2023 showing Facey arranging a flight out of Merrill Field to smuggle a woman out of Alaska to avoid arrest. Sanchez-Rodriguez used a contraband phone from prison, the document says. It wasn’t clear if the flight occurred.
Sanchez-Rodriguez was indicted on federal drug trafficking and murder charges in October 2023 and accused of running a major ring that smuggled fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine to communities around Alaska, including small villages. The murder charges are associated with the May 2023 deaths of 30-year-old Sunday Powers and 34-year-old Kami Clark, whose bodies were found in Trapper Creek.
More than 60 other defendants have been charged in connection with the Sanchez-Rodriguez drug trafficking organization, federal prosecutors say.
Sanchez-Rodriguez had fentanyl delivered to Facey’s home, according to the motion. Prosecutors say the attorney messaged back, saying, “Thank you. Much appreciated. I feel funny not paying — we can credit it for when you need some legal work done, if you want?”
The motion also accuses Facey of asking Sanchez-Rodriguez to assault someone the lawyer had a grievance with. The prisoner took steps to arrange a shooting, it said, but law enforcement was able to disrupt that plan.
Informants told prosecutors that they directly experienced or witnessed Facey coerce sex acts in return for legal representation and paid a young woman with drugs, according to the motion. One described seeing Facey snorting meth using a homemade “hot rail” device with two young women present who appeared to be minors, the motion said.
Messages included in the motion appear to show Facey describing his involvement with trafficking: “The cartel literally threw a duffle bag from a moving vehicle onto my roof to hire me last week.”
According to the indictment, Facey in April 2024 began using his Anchorage home to distribute and use fentanyl and meth. The indictment also accuses him of possessing a 12-gauge shotgun, 9 mm pistol, .380-caliber pistol and a rifle “in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime” when a search warrant was served there last month.
Facey is licensed in Alaska but hasn’t had the ability to practice law since February, when he was placed on interim suspension by a state Supreme Court order. The suspension is linked to 13 separate Alaska State Bar grievances and six fee arbitration matters over a three-year period, according to the Supreme Court order.
Facey appealed, asking for a 90-day delay to wind down his practice and transition out of or resolve roughly 50 open cases.
Four of the five Supreme Court justices presided over the decision. They suspended Facey from practice, effective immediately.
“Bar Counsel has demonstrated that Attorney Facey’s conduct constitutes a substantial threat of irreparable harm to his clients or prospective clients,” the order stated.
Bar association counsel Phil Shanahan declined to comment about the federal charges when reached by phone Wednesday.
Following his suspension, Facey “appears to have transitioned entirely to supporting himself through the distribution of narcotics,” prosecutors wrote in the detention motion, describing the drugs as mostly fentanyl.
Messages he posted this spring on several Facebook groups hinted that Facey was planning to move. In one Anchorage and Mat-Su buy-sell-trade group, he posted listings for everything from a 2003 Cadillac and arcade-style Pac-Man game to office furniture and an 80-inch flat screen TV.
Federal prosecutors described the accusations against Facey as unprecedented in the Alaska district in terms of “misconduct of this scale by a formerly practicing attorney,” according to the memo.
Facey remained in custody at the Anchorage Correctional Complex as of Wednesday evening. His initial court appearance was scheduled for Thursday.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska has been recused from this case with the exception of certain personnel, according to a prepared statement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D. Clymer from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York has been appointed as special attorney to the U.S. Attorney General to assist with this and other recused cases.
The case is being investigated by the Anchorage offices of the Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI, with the assistance of the Anchorage Police Department, according to the statement. Anyone with information about Facey is asked to contact the FBI field office at 907-276-4441 or anonymously.
