Man gets 3 years for wild chase through Wasilla

PALMER — An Anchorage man who nearly sent a battered stolen pickup crashing through the front door of Walgreen’s last year has almost reached the limit of the legal system’s patience.

Jason Isenberg, 29, has been sentenced to serve three years and 20 days in prison with another four years and five months of time he could be required to serve if he doesn’t perform well on probation.

“He spent the majority, or a good portion of his adult life, in prison,” said prosecutor Trina Sears, adding that Isenberg’s record includes more than two dozen convictions since he turned 19.

She said that the suspended time is an attempt to convince Isenberg to reform.

“He’s getting to a point where this will be the last chance at rehabilitation,” Sears said. “He’s going to need to make a change in his life.”

She noted that the crime was a serious one — a dangerous chase through a very crowded area of the Mat-Su Borough — and that Isenberg was high on methamphetamines at the time.

Isenberg’s attorney, Andrew Weinraub, said that his client was cooperative and helpful in the legal process.

When asked by Superior Court Judge Kari Kristiansen what he could say about his client’s prospects for rehabilitation, Weinraub said that most crimes are committed in an offender’s youth and Isenberg is pushing 30, the age at which this kind of behavior tends to peter out.

“Ageing out is a thing that I learned and have experienced in my career as a defense attorney,” he sad. “As they age, offenders tend not to commit crimes.”

Kristiansen called the crimes Isenberg committed “senseless” and seized on this point about him being cooperative and helpful to his lawyer.

“There’s an understanding here that you understand where you’re at and why you’re here,” she said. “It’s a tragedy for you to continue to be in that spot.”

Isenberg’s case dates back to Nov. 9, 2013, when he blew past an Alaska State Trooper in a marked patrol car on the Glenn Highway near the Old Glenn Highway overpass. When Isenberg passed the trooper, he was driving doing 110 mph in an Toyota Tundra he had stolen from an Anchorage dealership.

At Parks Highway and Hyer Road, Wasilla police managed to pop his driver’s side tires with spike strips. The chase continued into downtown, where he drove into the Arby’s parking lot and then into the parking lot of the Wasilla Police Department before crossing the Parks Highway and getting out of the pickup in the Walgreen’s parking lot while it was still in gear. A quick-moving officer jumped into the pickup and stopped it before it crashed into the store.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.