A four-month investigation into drug trafficking at a Wasilla bar led to one employee’s arrest and the seizure of roughly $55,000 in cash and cocaine last week with additional arrests likely, Alaska State Troopers said.
Troopers and other law enforcement agencies executed a search warrant at the Mug-Shot Saloon on the Parks Highway on Friday night, troopers said. Employee Mark Nester, 45, was arrested on a felony charge of third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance.
In August, detectives and investigators conducted a surveillance operation at the bar, according to a summary of police reports filed with charges. An undercover detective spoke with a regular at the bar, who told him he could purchase an 8-ball of cocaine for $240 from Nester, who worked as a bouncer, the summary said. The bar regular met with Nester alone in the bathroom, then met the undercover detective to split the drugs the regular had just purchased, it said.
During the investigation, the troopers’ Mat-Su Drug Team determined multiple staff members were trafficking drugs from within the bar, the agency said.
On Friday around 10 p.m., a task force that included officers from the Wasilla and Anchorage police departments, troopers and Homeland Security Investigations executed a search warrant at the Mug-Shot and arrested Nester, troopers said. Roughly $55,000 in cash was seized from the bar along with cocaine, troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said.
Few other details were available this week. McDaniel said the investigation was ongoing.
“We don’t typically push out press releases for ongoing investigations, but due to the very public execution of that search warrant, we felt it was important to put out an update of where are right now,” he said. “Investigators do expect more charges. They do expect more arrests to occur.”
A message left at the Mug-Shot Saloon was not immediately returned.