A plea agreement entered Wednesday for a former Bergmann Hotel manager outlines the 2017 drug deals that led to his arrest.
Charles Edward Cotten Jr. was arrested in October and charged with four counts of federal felony drug distribution.
The agreement says Cotten will plead guilty to all four charges. He admits to selling 112 grams of methamphetamine.
In exchange, the 52-year-old Cotten will get a 10-year prison sentence, and 10 years of supervised release. Without the deal, he could face up to 40 years in prison, a lifetime on supervised release, and $5 million in fines.
On four different days in 2017, Cotten sold methamphetamine to people cooperating with law enforcement. The agreement says Cotten used a 1995 Harley-Davidson in the distribution of the drugs. He’ll forfeit the motorcycle.
The government seized the M/V Northwind, a 34-foot cabin cruiser built in 1974, in the arrest, but it wasn’t worth keeping. Harbormaster David Borg says City and Borough of Juneau impounded the boat for non-payment. It sank in early January. The city hauled it out of the water and later destroyed it.
According to the agreement, Cotten was previously convicted in Missouri for the manufacture of a controlled substance.
When Cotten was arrested in October 2017, he had a .45-caliber handgun in his vehicle and 391.9 grams of a drug mixture containing methamphetamine.
A sealed addendum to the plea agreement was also entered April 4. A change of plea hearing is tentatively scheduled for April 11.
Cotten’s co-defendant in one count, Ricky Stapler Lisk, pleaded guilty in February. His sentencing is scheduled for October.
