A 23-year-old Juneau man accused of dealing heroin has changed his plea to guilty.
Musa A. Marenah entered his plea Tuesday in Juneau Superior Court before Judge Philip Pallenberg.
Marenah was arrested in March after members of the Juneau Police Department and Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs (SEACAD) task force conducted a controlled buy of heroin at the Breakwater Inn parking lot on Glacier Avenue.
Prosecutors said Marenah confessed to police when he was arrested and said he flew down to Washington state a couple times a month to purchase heroin. He said he pays his source in Washington $2,000 per ounce and sells it in Juneau for $100 for a 10th of a gram, according to an affidavit.
Marenah was originally indicted in March on two class ‘A’ felony charges, second-degree misconduct of a controlled substance, for dealing heroin on March 3. That’s a felony that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge: attempted second-degree misconduct of a controlled substance for taking a substantial step toward knowingly delivering heroin, with intent to commit a crime. That’s a ‘B’ felony that can carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
The other charge was dismissed, in accordance with a plea deal reached with prosecutors.
The plea deal calls for him to serve six years in prison with four years suspended. That means two years to serve, but he is to be given credit for time already served in prison and for time to be served at a treatment center.
Marenah’s attorney Julie Willoughby said her client has already served six months in prison, and will be attending a treatment program for 18 months. That means he won’t have to serve any more prison time, unless he re-offends while on probation whereupon a judge could impose his suspended time.
The plea deal requires him to be on probation for five years after his release. Conditions of probation would be open to the court.
The plea deal also calls for Marenah to admit to the “most serious” sentencing aggravator, which means the crime was the most serious in its class.
Pallenberg agreed to schedule a sentencing hearing in February 2014, after Marenah completes the treatment program.
The judge told Marenah that he will decide during the sentencing hearing whether he will accept the plea deal. Pallenberg warned Marenah that if he doesn’t complete the treatment program, the plea deal may be taken off the table.
Pallenberg signed a proposed order that allows Marenah to be released into the custody of a third-party custodian, his father, so he can get to the treatment program on Sept. 6.
• Contact reporter Emily Russo Miller at 523-2263 or at emily.miller@juneauempire.com.
Comments (29)
Add commentNice profit
Let's see....28 grams or so in an ounce, so 280 one-tenth gram sales at $100 for total of $28,000, less the initial $2000 investment leaves a profit of $26,000..."a couple times a month".
Can that be correct?
Your math is spot on.
After everything it was a cool 20gs. That being said he caught a break. Best of luck Mo. Hope to see you on the up and up soon.
$$$
Don't know if the reported costs are correct but your math is definitely correct.
That's a lot of money!
Most Serious?
Who is the court trying to kid? This guy is convicted of being a Heroin dealer and on a fairly large scale for Juneau. He is getting time served (6 months) and government paid for "treatment".
The message the court is sending our young people is that we do not really think that Heroin dealers and users are really committing a serious crime, and that punishment will be fairly light no matter how much you sell or who your customers are.
^^^^
This has been going on for decades in Juneau. Quite frankly Juneau is a pretty lax place to commit a crime. No but yes. See judges have been handing out sentences like this for years. They can't all the sudden just throw the book at them if you have been following this whole thing the sentences have been getting longer. Slowly but surely.
More Resources for Prosecution
The local criminal defense bar, particularly the private attorneys, seems to be doing exceptionally well in our adversarial system, prompting one to wonder if the prosecution has the proper resources to try these cases.
The defense lawyers are simply doing their job of zealous representation, but policy makers might want to level the playing field in certain drug cases (due to the extreme societal harm involved with heroin, etc) with well funded, highly skilled special prosecution teams (think: legal Navy Seals) complete with a cadre of investigators and size-able budgets for research, investigation and expert witnesses. There would be both trial experts and an appellate practice for cohesion and specialization. This would level the playing field so each side has equal resources in these cases.
Two years to serve in a seemingly strong case (a "caught in the act" controlled buy complete with confession) seems on the light side of a potential 20 year sentence; moreover, we see dealer with funds (likely ill-gotten) that can pay for legal representation may be getting relatively lighter sentences than poor defendants given public defenders (with much greater case loads).
This was a crime that took place a football field away from my house and children, and I thank the police for doing their part and urge voters and policymakers to consider better allocating resources for more vigorous prosecution of drug crimes that ruin the lives of so many Alaskans.
@ AH HA
The government isn't paying for his treatment his family is. it was his choice to go to treatment and he has been trying to go but the D.A. has been putting off letting let him go since he got accepted into the treatment center he is going to. Musa is my cousin and i know that he can pull through this despite everything he has going against him.
Would you be willing to share if....
Any of your cousin's defense costs or treatment was paid for with funds from his sale of heroin to addicts in Juneau?
It would be noteworthy if local addicts are funding his defense/treatment or some other sources.
And you can post your accounting information with cost breakdowns to show your math.
(question for away from AK)
@atomreyes
Nah. I'll speak for @away. Money is all gone and I can assure you all funds that paid for the defense we either put up by friends or family. Please accept that he got caught and is moving forward instead of trying to drag him through the mud by accusing him of using drug funds to pay for his defense/treatment
And didn't you state this crime happened a football feild from your house this happened at the breakwater so I'm sorry to inform you that crimes are happening everyday next to you (highschool). In fact there is most likely one going down now.
Hmmm....
Money "all gone"? Couple of trips a month with a profit of $20, 000 a trip? And no assets or cash remain? Sorry, I'm having trouble swallowing that….. I mean if he only made six trips the profit was $120,000 pretty nice for three months in business. If he "worked" for six months then he was looking at a cool quarter million.........
See where I’m going with this???
Thanks ra .
@atom, when has there been a similar case where some one who had a public defender got more than 2 years? every one that i know or have seen in the paper with a similar case has pretty much gotten the same except they all got 3 years of probation not 5. so if you know of cases where money got them a shorter sentence then please let me know, and gino doesn't count.
The Game.
if you are selling drugs you accumulate a lot of so called "friends" and those friends only care about one thing and that is the dope you have or anything else they can use you for. So any money or drugs that he had left were gone the second those handcuffs got put on him.
WOOOW
Its not like they can invest this or by cars or whatever you have to continue to keep the money off the books so you spend big. By more drugs by girls and friends stuff not to mention your own habbit. What happens when they can't get any and have to buy it on the street but the same person they been charging a bill now decides to charge them double.
I can't believe I explained that to you. Go watch a Oliver Stone movie or something.
@away if you see/talk to him tell him I said I hope he is doing well and just keep doing the right thing
WOOOW
Its not like they can invest this or by cars or whatever you have to continue to keep the money off the books so you spend big. By more drugs by girls and friends stuff not to mention your own habbit. What happens when they can't get any and have to buy it on the street but the same person they been charging a bill now decides to charge them double.
I can't believe I explained that to you. Go watch a Oliver Stone movie or something.
@away if you see/talk to him tell him I said I hope he is doing well and just keep doing the right thing
WOOOW
Its not like they can invest this or by cars or whatever you have to continue to keep the money off the books so you spend big. By more drugs by girls and friends stuff not to mention your own habbit. What happens when they can't get any and have to buy it on the street but the same person they been charging a bill now decides to charge them double.
I can't believe I explained that to you. Go watch a Oliver Stone movie or something.
@away if you see/talk to him tell him I said I hope he is doing well and just keep doing the right thing
The upper left corner!
Versus the lower right corner and it's mandated laws. That's Alaska vs Florida, if ya didn't already get it. Last I looked, if you get caught dealing or being a mule in Fla, it's out of the judges hands. That's a mandated minimum 10 years w/o possibilty of parole. No plea deals, no treatment, no ifs ands or buts, just a big long term by-by. The thing that has me confused, is the 18 month treatment. I thought I knew about those programs. Most are in the 90 day range. This sounds more like Wa state's 24 month deferred prosecution program, where it's visit the PO once a week, but live at home and be free for that time. As far as the $'s go, like I said about another drug dealer a couple months ago. In the life style he is involved with, its common to stash the cash in the garden, but more than likely, it would be in a hidey hole, somewhere in his house. Just for the sake of curiousity.......tear the freakin house apart. Peace!
This is so disappointing and
This is so disappointing and perplexing on so many levels. Beginning with airline and or airport security and alleged homeland security. I realize airport security is not going to catch everything coming through but 2 trips a month and not so much as a sniff? Good for you, Musa, you really beat the system for a while in many ways, and probably laughed at us honest hard working people all the way. This plea deal is offensive and seems to be typical of Juneau's version of the "justice system". This guy was, or may still be, rolling in the money. By his own claims was making as much in 1 1/2 months as I do in a year and I work an honest 9-5 job and pay taxes. This guy deserves so much more punishment then he is receiving. This is less than a slap on the wrist. 18 month rehab stint? Give me a break, this will give him time to increase his client list and not much more. If he gets out and goes back to his "friends" and "associates" in Juneau then he does not have a chance. If he was peddling 280 bags of smack every 2 weeks and traveling to get the stuff then this sounds like more than a small time junkie/dealer. I wonder how he ranks with the likes of Dawson and Jim Hanson who have been much discussed in previous articles. Just wait, Juneau, till those two get back out on your streets. The ridiculous plea deal just shows that the other 2 dozen or so young 20 somethings who have been named in this paper and indicted will likely get even less. Good luck to you, Juneau, you may very well have most all of these junkies back on your streets by Christmas the way your court system rolls. None of these people have a chance if they all get out, remain in Juneau and hang and work this racket together again. As for you, "rafromfb" I have seen your posts in a few of the other articles regarding these heroin and meth dealers. You are quick to correct or set others straight. You seem to be close to this activity and in the know. I am not accusing you of being involved, but you are friends with some of these people and defend them and criticize others for stating their opinions. What do you do to try to help your friends get right? Or, do you just sit back and be the authority of this activity and lifestyle and watch your friends go down hill? I pray for Juneau, it's citizens and for the young generation that is about to evolve into this activity, that they will have the strength to make better choices than the generation of 16-24 yr olds wreaking havoc on your fine city and wasting their lives by putting this poison in their bodies. They are rotting from the inside out and making absolutely no contribution to your community. The next thing coming in the near future is a rash of deaths because if they do not OD outright, heroin is a very slow killer. Juneau court system needs a serious overhaul. They need to start treating this issue much more seriously than they currently do.
Away From AK, since it
Away From AK, since it appears your cousin is going to be free sooner rather than later, you could do him a huge favor by getting him "Away from AK' as well. It seems as though he has plenty of frequent flier miles waiting for him. I do not wish bad for him and hope that he will turn his life, outlook and attitude around and makes a positive contribution to whatever community he ends up in. I hope he has some sort of skills to get an honest job and live a straight life. I also hope that his desire, as you claim, to get into a rehab facility is legitimate and not just a ploy to work the obviously soft Juneau court system in his favor. This infuriates me more and more as I think about it. A potential 20 years and $250,000 fine gets worked down to 6 months in jail and 18 months in rehab. The message to him and all of the others who have been indicted in the past few months is that the inherent risk of being a heroin addict and dealer is not really that high. Musa spread these bags of smack all about the city and sold to lower level dealers who kept dropping it down the chain to the lowest level junkie. I hope he has enough sense in his head to eventually realize the harm he has done to many, many people all the while traveling around enjoying the heck out of his life at the cost of others.
@exjnuite
i wouldn't consider going to treatment being free, but anyways yes i know he is sincere about wanting to clean up this mess that he has made. He has already taken responsibility for what he did and fessed up to it. now he just wants to move forward with his life. As for these all these "peoples" lives he ruined by selling dope, He didn't ruin their lives they did it to them selves its not like he made them buy it. All these people that say addiction is a disease is full of crap. you make the choice to use drugs or booze and if you don't have enough self control to stay away just admit you have a problem instead of saying you have a disease. if you really want to quit you will, i have been clean for almost 3 years now and it is only by my Faith in God and my willingness to not want do drugs and i know that Musa has all the same abilities that i do. I also know that if he messes up hes going to be going to jail for a lot longer than a couple years. One last thing i am glad that he got caught because i'm sure it saved his life and after everything our family has been through in the last few years another death is the last thing that we need and if anyone has anything negative to say i will not respond because it is a waste of my time and a waste of anyone else's that feels the need to get mad at him.
Away From AK // Musa
First and foremost, and most importantly, congratulations to you for being clean and sober for 3 years. That is no small accomplishment. I wish you years and years of continued success and I mean that with the utmost of sincerity.
To clarify, my reference to his being free sooner rather than later had nothing to do w/ rehab. Musa will be free in appx. Feb of 2014, not 10 or 20 years from now. That was my reference and I hope he feels fortunate. I respectfully disagree with you about the peoples lives being affected in a negative way by his high volume selling of heroin. Yes, the junkies want the stuff and he was more than willing to sell it and walk away with their money, laughing all the way as to how he was beating the system. I agree that the "friends" he met along his journey were by and large not real friends and as you stated above, they cared more about what he was selling than him. However, don't try to tell me that he cared any more about them as well. He sold them the junk, took their money and walked away not caring what happened to them next. All parties are equally to blame. Yes, it is good he got caught because there was no way he was going to stop or slow down on his own. Also, your family who has been through so much and who has the means to provide an attorney, and the resources to get him into rehab still enabled him. Too bad no one in the family could influence him or get his attention before it spiraled into what it is now. What did they think he was doing and where was he going so frequently? Did they actually think he had an honest job paying him enough to jaunt to Seattle every two weeks? Anyway, after all you have been through, I hope you have enough direct influence on him to help guide him assuming he has the inner strength to actually finish the 18 month rehab. Also, his only chance to succeed as you have, is to ditch the "friends" he has in Juneau and get out of that town for good or he will positively be finishing his sentence and more. Lastly, yes, I am mad. I am mad at Musa, Darrell Dawson, Jim Hanson, Olin Gulleffson and Madelyn Brooks for doing such a great job of being greedy at the cost of Juneau's youth who are recruited and groomed for this lifestyle. Most of the others who have been indicted and named in the Empire are lower level users and will get off easy, continue to hang together and search for the next Musa which I am sure they will find quite easily. and the cycle continues. Take care and God bless.
Fallacies and falsehoods
I took a long moment to respond here on this, because in a way, I'm both confused and a bit angry. First, the confusion comes from the statement made about the users having a choice to get off the drugs and if they don't it's their choice. The absolute hard core fact is, if some dealer didn't provide the first dose and then continue to provide the drugs. Most of these kids wouldn't be in the hell they are in now. The heroin didn't magically appear in their pockets the 1st time and the repitition needed to become addicted is the act of a dealer's want for more business. He (Musa) had the ultimate choice to sell to an addicted/destroyed kid or not. Knowing what is happening to the recipients of your product is the way your sales evolve. The anger aspect is from hearing yet another load of remorse. The time for believable remorse is before you get caught. Not because it's a sentence lightener. Like 'exjnuite' said. How many fam members kept their collective heads in the sand, seeing the many flights, life-style change and other signs of dealing, without a word? I AM SAD FOR THE FAMILY, but the facts are, Musa made truly crap choices. I'm 100% sure the families of the addicted lost see him in a whole different light and not the remorseful, born again good guy with a sad tale to tell. He was a barracuda, preying on those that fed his greed. Nothing more! He'll do time as such and nothing will change that. Peace!
@ AH HA @exjnuite
@AH HA
Just gotta clear up the whole 'math' issue. Any drug addict with an ounce of heroin at his disposal is going to be blowing through at least a gram daily ($1,000 Juneau value), with the remainder of the income being spent on extravagances only possible with illegitimate money...like buying overpriced clothing and airplane tickets. In any case, that money was gone a long time ago and that's not a lie.
@exjnuite
Wow. Them's a whole lot of descriptive words and assumptions for someone who's a complete stranger to the convict in question.
I stand by my thoughts and
I stand by my thoughts and opinions. I welcome you to point out where I am wrong and convince me as such,if you can.
@dru23urd
Yes, let’s clear up that pesky "math" issue shall we; Marenah is a heroin addict and he has a pretty good habit… a gram a day and like most heroin addicts he shoots and nods and shoots and nods and is only as active as he needs to be to ensure his supply of heroin. He does not spend a lot of time pissing away a lot of money when he could be on the nod.
If He is shooting a gram a day (and I really doubt it), his habit is costing him $71.42 a day every day of the year for a grand total of $26,000. See, he is lucky…. He gets his supply wholesale. If he was only bringing an ounce a trip a couple of times a month he was covering his expenses plus feeding his habit and still clearing $168,000 per year in pure profit… and since he is busy shooting up and laying around on the nod I seriously doubt he managed to burn through $168,000 a year in cash.
Since the average heroin addict in the united states uses about 200mg per day Far more likely is that if he has a BIG habit he is shooting up about 350mg to 450 mg per day (3 to 4 tenths of a gram) bringing his addiction down to the $17,000 per year range.
Sorry Friend, It just doesn’t wash. My guess is that just like every other addict I know, he is a liar. A pretty tidy pile of cash is missing and either he has it stashed or he was working for someone and they have it now.
@AH HA
The fact that you trying to explain how much heroin the average addict uses in milligrams makes it very obvious you don't know what you're talking about. What website did you pull that statistic off?
Also, once again, having ounces of heroin on hand disqualifies classification as the average addict. Anyone who has ever experienced a tolerance to opiates will tell you a gram a day doesn't induce a constant "nod".
this is messes up.
Are you kissing me he gets that little time what joke
this is messes up.
Are you kissing me he gets that little time what joke
way messes up
These drug dealers get little time in jail what a joke. Because it takes a addict a life time to recover and drugs destroys families and lives. Mothers cry every night when their child has a addiction. Sisters. Mothers.brothers everyone tries everything to get them off drugs. . DRUG DEALER PAT YOURSELVES. ON THE BACK YOU SHOULW BE SO PROUD.
Very Good
I'm glad some positive dialogue came out of this as far as my stance in all of this Mo is a friend and no I don't condone the use or sale I will say this untill Juneau either really punishes people or offer treatment and resources I refuse to let you all have a field day running someone into the ground. It's like you see no evil but are the first to condone it. I am not sure how I feel about all this. It is very sad and everyone here has said something right.