Troopers waited two months after the traffic stop to make the arrest

A May traffic stop on a Mat-Su highway turned into a two-month investigation that ended Thursday at a house on Balsam Circle in Wasilla.

Troopers stopped Miranda Farrell, 29, on May 26 and seized her car, finding what they describe as about seven grams of fentanyl, three grams of methamphetamine, and items tied to selling drugs. She was not arrested then. Troopers kept working the case and came back this week with a search warrant.

Farrell faces two felony counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance and is being held at Mat-Su Pretrial pending arraignment. The charges are accusations, and she is presumed innocent.

The Valley draws this kind of attention for a reason. Mat-Su has Alaska's highest rate of nonfatal opioid overdoses, 3.6 per thousand emergency room visits, according to a state health bulletin last year.