Cocaine Trafficker Sentenced To Life Without Parole
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - On September 14, 2012, Otagus Demond Coverson, a resident of Washington State who frequented Anchorage, was sentenced in federal court in Anchorage to life in prison without parole. In July 2011, jurors convicted Coverson of attempting topossess five kilograms or more of cocaine with intent to distribute.
According to information presented at sentencing, Coverson was the intended recipient of 8.9 kilograms of cocaine from co-conspirators in Oregon. The cocaine was intercepted by law enforcement following a traffic stop. Agents and officers replaced the cocaine with sham and ultimately delivered it to Coverson’s Alaska apartment. After opening the package and discovering the sham, Coverson jumped from a second story window to elude law enforcement, injuring himself in the process. The government presented additional evidence at sentencing concerning prior packages of cocaine that Coverson had received from this same source.
Coverson has three prior felony drug convictions as an adult and sentencing documents showed that he has also previously been convicted of manslaughter and assault. Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(A)(1) provides that offenders who traffic serious quantities of drugs, including more than five kilograms of cocaine, after two or more prior convictions for a felony drug offense “shall be sentenced to a mandatory term of life imprisonment without release.” This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement (DEA), the Port of Seattle Police Department, the Anchorage Police Department, Alaska State Troopers, and the Internal Revenue Service.
