A lawyer from Anchorage whose license was revoked in February is currently incarcerated on federal criminal charges related to guns and narcotics trafficking.
A federal grand jury indicted Justin Abbott Facey, a defense lawyer with an office on Eighth Avenue, on charges of maintaining a drug-involved premises, possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, and possessing firearms by a prohibited person. Facey was taken into custody on Wednesday.
Facey will be represented by Nick Vieth, an Idaho lawyer and former federal defender, who was named on Wednesday. When contacted by phone, he refused to comment.
A few specifics are given in the indictment itself. However, a motion for detention submitted by federal prosecutors on Wednesday details a startling number of charges against Facey.
The 44-year-old lawyer is described in the lawsuit as having a methamphetamine addiction, forcing sex acts on kids and clients, and offering legal services and other support to a drug dealer who is incarcerated.
“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 …” According to the motion.
According to the prosecution, Facey first came to the attention of law authorities in 2023 when they learned that he was helping a fatal drug operation operated by Heraclio Sanchez-Rodriguez, a prisoner from California.
Prosecutors claim the petition contains text communications from June 2023 in which Facey arranges a trip from Merrill Field to smuggle a woman out of Alaska in order to evade arrest. According to the paper, Sanchez-Rodriguez used a phone that was illegally obtained from prison. Whether the flight took place was unclear.
In October 2023, Sanchez-Rodriguez was charged with federal narcotics trafficking and murder. He was alleged to have operated a large ring that imported heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl to small towns and other places throughout Alaska. The 30-year-old Sunday Powers and the 34-year-old Kami Clark, whose remains were discovered in Trapper Creek in May 2023, are linked to the murder allegations.
According to federal prosecutors, over 60 additional suspects have been charged in relation to the Sanchez-Rodriguez drug trafficking enterprise.
The motion stated that Sanchez-Rodriguez had fentanyl delivered to Facey’s residence. The lawyer replied with a message that said, “Thank you,” according to the prosecution. Much obliged. I find it amusing not to pay; if you would like, we can reimburse it for any future legal work you require.
Additionally, Facey is accused in the motion of requesting that Sanchez-Rodriguez attack a person with whom the attorney had a quarrel. It said that although the inmate attempted to plan a shooting, law enforcement was able to thwart the scheme.
According to the motion, informants told prosecutors that they personally witnessed or experienced Facey paying a young woman with drugs and forcing sex acts in exchange for legal representation. According to the motion, one of them reported witnessing Facey snorting meth with a homemade “hot rail” device while two young women who looked to be minors were around.
It seems that Facey describes his involvement with trafficking in messages included in the motion: “The cartel literally threw a duffle bag from a moving vehicle onto my roof to hire me last week.”
The indictment claims that Facey started using and distributing meth and fentanyl from his Anchorage residence in April 2024. He is also charged in the indictment with having a rifle, a 9 mm handgun, a.380-caliber handgun, and a 12-gauge shotgun “in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime” when a search warrant was executed there last month.
Although Facey holds an Alaskan law license, a state Supreme Court order in February put him on temporary suspension, preventing him from practicing law. The Supreme Court order links the suspension to six fee arbitration cases and 13 distinct grievances filed by the Alaska State Bar over a three-year period.
In his appeal, Facey requested a 90-day extension to close his practice and close out or settle about 50 pending cases.
The ruling was presided over by four of the five justices of the Supreme Court. With immediate effect, they barred Facey from practice.
“Bar Counsel has demonstrated that Attorney Facey’s conduct constitutes a substantial threat of irreparable harm to his clients or prospective clients,” the judge wrote.
When contacted by phone on Wednesday, Phil Shanahan, the attorney for the bar organization, declined to comment on the federal accusations.
Prosecutors stated in the detention request that Facey “appears to have transitioned entirely to supporting himself through the distribution of narcotics” after his suspension, with the majority of the substances being fentanyl.
This spring, Facey made hints about his impending transfer in messages he shared on multiple Facebook groups. He listed anything from office equipment and an 80-inch flat-screen TV to a 2003 Cadillac and an arcade-style Pac-Man game in one buy-sell-trade group in Anchorage and Mat-Su.
According to the document, federal prosecutors said that Facey’s charges were “misconduct of this scale by a formerly practicing attorney,” which was unusual in the Alaska district.
As of Wednesday night, Facey was still being held at the Anchorage Correctional Complex. He was supposed to appear in court for the first time on Thursday.
