Valley man part of major meth bust

MAT-SU — Four men, one of them the owner of a Wasilla pool hall, were rounded up in what prosecutors say is quite possibly the largest seizure of methamphetamine headed for Alaska.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Anchorage announced in a press release Thursday that 23 pounds of Mexican meth was seized on the way to Anchorage. The drugs were allegedly headed for Ricky Reese, 51, of Wasilla.

Reese owns Shooters Billiards in Wasilla, according to the press release, and was linked to the meth through a confidential source from whom he agreed to take possession of the drugs.

According to a profile of Reese the Frontiersman ran in 2007, Reese opened his pool hall in March of that year. He bought the run-down space for a bargain, decked it out with security cameras and turned it into a place he said he hoped would be a family friendly environment where children and adults could come to shoot pool.

Also arrested in the meth case were Jared Lisenby, 29, of Anchorage and Ronald Hall, 78, and Debja Steilen, 54, both of California.

Prosecutors say the case came to light in March when Drug Enforcement Agency officers in Anchorage seized $12,000 from a 1990 Chevrolet pickup being shipped to Seattle.

One of the reasons the pickup was suspicious, according to the press release, was that it “had been shipped back and forth from Anchorage to Seattle on numerous occasions, despite having more than 300,000 miles on its odometer.”

Hall was the person shipping it.

Investigators tracked the pickup and watched Hall make round trips into Mexico with it on Dec. 10, 11 and 12. Hall and Steilen took another vehicle, a 2005 Ford Explorer, to Washington and put it on a barge headed for Anchorage.

In Seattle it was searched and the 23 pounds of meth were found in a trap door under the rear seat. The Explorer was allowed to continue to its destination, but in Anchorage investigators replaced the drugs with fake meth and wired the trap door to let them know when it was opened.

In Anchorage, agents arrested Hall, Steilen and Lisenby after the Explorer was picked up from the shipping company and driven to Lisenby’s house, where the trap door was opened. They then searched the home and came up with 16 guns and 3,000 rounds of ammunition.

The same day they searched Lisenby’s house and vehicle they also got a tip from the confidential informant. They watched Reese take possession of the fake meth. He was arrested at the Costco on Bragaw Road in Anchorage.

He and Lisenby were charged in Anchorage, Hall and Steilen were charged in Tacoma, Wash. The charges all four of them face could bring up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $4 million.

The U.S. Attorney’s press release says that the wide-ranging investigation was a joint operation of the DEA and of the Port of Seattle Police Department. It also, at various times, included the Anchorage Police Department, the Alaska State Troopers, the FBI, the criminal division of the IRS and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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