Mountain View man gets 20 years
A 49-year-old Mountain View man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after admitting to the slaying of a neighbor in Eden Roc subdivision.
On Friday, Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura sentenced Walter Boyd Bremmer to 20 years for manslaughter and use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony, plus one year for domestic abuse. All the charges are to run concurrently. Bremmer was originally charged with second-degree murder and first-degree robbery, but the murder charge was reduced to manslaughter and the robbery charge was dropped as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.
If convicted of murder, Bremmer would have been sentenced to life in prison. He did not address the court during his brief sentencing hearing on Friday.
Bremmer shot and strangled 52-year-old Robert John “Johnny” Leong in late January 2012. Leong’s body was found Jan. 28 in the backyard of his Palainui Avenue home, a converted shipping container, “with some type of cord wrapped around his neck and tied to a floor joist of the residence,” court documents state. Police said that Leong also had multiple gunshot wounds to the head.
Dudes busted for drugs
Police have charged a 34-year-old Volcano man for allegedly growing marijuana at his Fern Forest home, and in an unrelated case, indictments have been handed down to two suspects in a “drug house” methamphetamine case.
Mark Jordan Singletary made his initial appearance in Hilo District Court on Friday afternoon. Judge Harry Freitas set a preliminary hearing for Monday at 2 p.m.
He was charged with first- and second-degree commercial promotion of marijuana, third-degree promotion of a detrimental drug and two counts of drug paraphernalia. He freed Friday on $19,250 bail. First-degree commercial promotion of marijuana is a Class A felony punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment.
On Wednesday, a Hilo grand jury indicted 52-year-old Dalene P. Moreira of Keaau and 53-year-old Kevin Murota of Hilo with numerous charges stemming from a March 9, 2012, raid on a home at 368 West Kawailani St., across the street from the Hilo Municipal Golf Course.
According to police, a search warrant was executed on the home and officers found 5.3 grams of crystal methamphetamine, or “ice,” a small amount of marijuana and numerous items of drug paraphernalia.
Both suspects have been charged with attempted first-degree meth trafficking, second- and third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug and drug paraphernalia.
Police say a rifle and magazine were also found, and Moreira was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.