A father and son were sentenced Thursday in federal court for their roles in distributing methamphetamine in Juneau, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alaska.
Charles Edward Cotten, 53, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 25 years of supervised release. His son, Ricky Stapler Lisk, 37, was previously sentenced to five years in prison, according to the news release. Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy M. Burgess handed down the sentences.
Cotten, a Juneau resident and the former manager of the Bergmann Hotel, pleaded guilty in April to four counts of drug distribution. Lisk pleaded guilty to one count of drug distribution in February.
The methamphetamine distributions took place May 12, June 2, June 6 and June 7 in 2017, according to Cotten’s plea agreement. Cotten delivered a total of 112 grams of meth on those four days, according to the plea deal, and he delivered them using his 1995 black Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
One of the transactions took place on Cotten’s boat, the M/V Northwind, the plea agreement states. The people who bought the meth from Cotten were participating with law enforcement and recorded audio from the four transactions, prosecutors say.
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Cotten was arrested Oct. 20, 2017, and he had a .45 caliber handgun in his vehicle and nearly 400 grams of a substance that tested positive for meth. Law enforcement officials seized the motorcycle and the boat, and investigators determined that the amount of drugs seized was enough to supply nearly 5,000 people with meth, according to court documents.
While Cotten was the manager of the Bergmann Hotel, the City and Borough of Juneau condemned the historic building on March 9, 2017 for ownership not addressing fire and building code violations.
When the Bergmann was condemned, Cotten was arrested and charged with reckless or intentional violation of a lawful order of the building official, a class A misdemeanor, but the charges were dropped soon afterward.
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
