A Wasilla billiard parlor owner's conviction for drug trafficking apparently did not deter the man's nephew from trying to take his place in the methamphetamine trade, according to federal prosecutors.
The nephew, Jeremy Locklear, 28, was busted as he tried to obtain a pound of meth from his uncle's Mexican connection, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. A federal judge sentenced him last week to 64 months in prison.
Locklear attempted to buy a pound of methamphetamine in Anchorage in April, according to documents filed in federal court. Just a week after Locklear bought what he thought was a pound of meth, his uncle, Ricky Alan Reese, was sentenced to life in prison for bringing 23 pounds of meth into Alaska in 2009.
Reese is the former owner of Shooters Billiard Parlor in Wasilla.
Months before, while in jail awaiting sentencing, Reese connected Locklear with an intermediary to Reese's meth source, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office and documents filed in court. The intermediary appears to have been working with authorities.
Locklear had asked the unidentified person to put him in touch with Reese's old source of meth in Mexico, according to Locklear's plea agreement. Locklear told the man that he wouldn't be caught because he was so careful in the way he conducted business.
The man eventually agreed to provide Locklear with the drugs, the court papers say.
An affidavit filed in court by an Alaska State Trooper working with the Drug Enforcement Administration details the drug buy:
They met about 1:45 p.m. April 15 at Burger Jim's restaurant at Fourth Avenue and Gambell Street. Locklear showed the person $10,000 in cash he'd brought. The intermediary told Locklear to drive to a garage on Taku Drive, according to DEA task force officer Eric Spitzer's affidavit.
"There, the other individual represented that a sealed box contained one pound of methamphetamine," Spitzer wrote. Locklear handed over about $10,000, took the box and left, the affidavit says. "This exchange was observed by law enforcement officers," the affidavit says.
Less than 10 minutes later, Locklear was pulled over and arrested, the trooper wrote. The next month he pleaded guilty to attempted possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, according to the signed plea agreement.
On Thursday, District Court Judge Ralph Beistline said that drug trafficking had taken a serious toll on the United States and Mexico. "He further noted that Mr. Locklear had observed Ricky Reese's entire jury trial, and had apparently not been deterred by his uncle's conviction from attempting to continue and further his drug trafficking operations," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a written statement.
Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@ adn.com or 257-4589.
By CASEY GROVE
casey.grove@adn.com