Wasilla woman faces fentanyl, heroin charges after traffic stop

Alaska State Troopers arrested a Wasilla woman on drug charges after a traffic stop turned up fentanyl and heroin, the agency reported.

Kristena Bannon, 42, was stopped May 28 in Wasilla by troopers assigned to the Highway Interdiction Team — a unit dedicated to traffic-stop-based drug enforcement along Alaska's road corridors — after multiple traffic infractions in a Volkswagen sedan. Investigation revealed Bannon was in possession of fentanyl and heroin, troopers said. She was on conditions of release for a prior case at the time of the arrest, and a separate March trooper report had identified her in connection with a failure-to-appear warrant.

Bannon was charged with two counts of Misconduct Involving a Controlled Substance in the Fifth Degree — Alaska's classification for small-quantity controlled-substance possession — and violation of conditions of release. She was remanded to Mat-Su Pretrial pending arraignment.

The arrest comes amid a continued enforcement focus on fentanyl in the Mat-Su Valley. Alaska Department of Public Safety records show state troopers seized record drug quantities in 2024, and Alaska remains one of only a handful of states where opioid overdose deaths increased from 2023 through 2025 even as the national rate dropped sharply. Fentanyl was identified as a factor in roughly 73 percent of Alaska overdose deaths in 2024, according to state Department of Health mortality data.

Charges reported are accusations. Bannon is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.