A 25-year-old Juneau man pleaded guilty Monday to a felony drug charge for dealing heroin.
Christopher Waterhouse entered his plea in Juneau Superior Court as part of a plea deal reached with prosecutors with the district attorney’s office. The plea deal calls for six years of prison with four suspended, leaving two years to serve. Waterhouse will also have three years of supervised probation after his release. Waterhouse also admitted the most serious aggravator for sentencing purposes, and he agreed pay $400 in restitution for the drug buy money.
Assistant District Attorney Angie Kemp said Waterhouse sold 0.5 grams of heroin on both Nov. 28 and 29 of last year.
The Alaska Bureau of Investigation’s Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs (SEACAD) conducted the controlled buys, and he was one of three people arrested in Juneau for drug-related offenses on Dec. 1 by SEACAD, Juneau Police Department and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Services, according to an earlier statement from the Alaska Bureau of Investigation.
Waterhouse was originally charged with three felony charges: two counts for second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance and one count for second-degree attempted misconduct involving a controlled substance.
He pleaded guilty to the latter, and the plea deal dismisses the other charges.
Judge Philip Pallenberg scheduled a sentencing hearing for May.
• Contact reporter Emily Russo Miller at 523-2263 or at emily.miller@juneauempire.com.
Comments (19)
Add commentWhat's Up?
I don't understand the significance of this case. It seems this is a rather low level seller with trivial amounts of drugs.Do our prisons have enough space to house everyone who transfers .5 grams.
Where do these people come from?
Are they all Juneau-grown? Or are they coming up from down south to take over the 'franchise' after we busted the previous dealer?
This is not Chris's first
This is not Chris's first time being arrested.
$400 for .5 gram sounds a bit
$400 for .5 gram sounds a bit pricey. I'm guessing they had him for quite a bit more than that but he decided to work with them. Good for him. There is no honor among thieves or junkies. Someday your "friends" will appreciate you helping them get out of the vicious cycle of drug abuse......
krazy
homie done got caught slippin'
yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
he dun did
@blackdog
It was $400 total for both buys, so $200 for half a gram
The jail time may save his life
I hope the hard time gets him off the junk for good. May ultimately save his life.
Tru Dat
I hope he makes new choices for himself. Get off the junk and stay off it. A year and a half (goodtime) in the slammer can be very good for him, if that is, he accepts his wrongdoing, doesn't identify with the completely f'd-up prison culture, and dedicates himself to a no-bs change. It's all up to him, and his loved ones will be the first to know if it's real, or more bs...
Wish time could be served in rehab
I so wish addicts could be commited to in patient treatment facilities instead of prisons. Same sentence of a year or more, because the truth is 90 days doesn't even scratch the surface and 30 days is a joke. You have to get through the withdrawl. Tear an addict down to the core of the addiction and past all the excuses and bs they have sold themselves. And then you can get to work. Build them back up, give them the skills they need to live clean. For many they didn't get the tools growing up, for whatever the reason they lack basic skills to hold down a job, pay their bills and face life head on day to day. This is not a slam on them or their parents. Just an observation. So many addict are addicts because they don't know how to face life head on day to day. If we could some how really teach them in a controlled environment...
But I know all the reasons why we don't force people into treatment. I know it could open the door to the violation of civil liberties. We got away from forced commitments for the most part a long time ago because of the abuses. I understand and certainly do not want to go back to the days of the sanitorium.
I just feel that so many of our offenders are addicts and the drug is what dictates their life of crime. I don't see the current lock em up system working. In fact I think it makes it worse. It allows them to network with other addicts. No supports in place to resist, and no skills to face the real world when they get out. If you don't know what to do when you get out, you go back to do what you were doing when you went in.
Just praying for solutions and less of the same.
I tend to agree about rehab but,
At what point does a junkie become a dealer? I can see sending addicts to long term in patient rehab but dealers are a different animal altogether. I could be convinced that capital punishment is appropriate for people who sell certain drugs.
Seriously AH HA? Capital
Seriously AH HA? Capital punishment for selling something someone else willingly buys?
I hate drugs and the damage they do to individuals, families, and communities but killing the street peddler while we send their bosses (the sacrificial lambs anyway...) to the Federal Pen/Country Club for white collar crimes is a true tragedy......take this for what its worth but it is worth the read.....or just Google narcodollars.....
http://www.narconews.com/narcodollars1.html
users vs. dealers
I am all for rehab over incarceration, BUT.... nowhere in this story does it say that this dealer was a user/addict.
As such, I will assume he was only a dealer, dealing something that is incredibly addictive and dangerous to those who buy it.
I liken it to selling a five year old a loaded gun. People who deal heroin are just as dangerous to society and should be incarcerated for any amount sold. Mere possession is something else.
What if he sold it to your teenager? Would you suggest rehab over incarceration?
I think the sentence was very fair; it gets a heroin dealer off the streets, at least for two years and hopefully his supplier is sweating and hiding outside of Alaska. We don't need heroin in Juneau. He was a definite threat to society, even though he only sold 1/2 gram.
But the irony here is, as addictive as heroin is, tobacco is even more addictive. Yet cigarettes are totally legal.
Which is another reason we should raise tobacco taxes through the roof as a disincentive to young people to buy them. The cheaper they are, the easier they are for young people to buy and to become addicted.
Dealers in rehab
You see it as a bad thing. I think maybe it wouldn't be. Say a street dealer is not a user, not very likely but possible. Spending a year or two watching others battle to heal and overcome. Seeing the pain and torment. Developing personal relationships with those addicts and seeing them as human beings not customers.
I can see more being learned there than prison with potential business partners and future customers.
As for it being my child purchasing drugs... It is. That is why I pray everyday for a solution, actual change. What has been done for decades isn't working.
Where Does Heroin Come From?
98 percent of the worlds opium supply comes out of the U.S. occupied middle east. In particular, Afghanistan accounting for the majority. How does this happen? Who gets the drugs here?
Ever hear of Air America?
Ever hear of Air America? Iran - Contra?
@Blackdog,Yes Seriously
There are many kids in this town who are addicted to Heroin and many who are addicted to Oxy. Most will “prefer” whichever one happens to be more available at the moment of need.
Kids are not of an age to “willingly buy” anything.
Yes, I do think that if a person is convicted of dealing Schedule 1A drugs they should face capital punishment.
I understand your sentiment
I understand your sentiment and will look the other way if I ever see you tip a crab pot over the gunwale with a poorly tied knot on the buoy......accidents happen......
emily rosso
you suck and you are so rude! get a life