The attorney who represented a suspected marijuana grower at his arraignment Thursday in Hilo District Court described her client as “a homemaker.” ADVERTISING The attorney who represented a suspected marijuana grower at his arraignment Thursday in Hilo District Court described
The attorney who represented a suspected marijuana grower at his arraignment Thursday in Hilo District Court described her client as “a homemaker.”
Deputy Public Defender Megan Fellows asked Judge Barabara Takase to grant supervised release to 55-year-old John Lester Perreira of Kurtistown. She noted the Department of Public Safety’s Intake Service Center recommended the no-bail release status for Perreira.
Police say they served a search warrant Tuesday at Perreira’s Pulelehua Road home in Hawaiian Acres and on two adjacent properties and found 68.12 pounds of dried marijuana and 309 marijuana plants.
Police say they also seized $19,500 in cash for possible forfeiture.
“Mr. Perreira does live with his family,” Fellows told Judge Barbara Takase. “He takes care of his children; he’s a homemaker.”
Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Rothfus asked the judge to maintain Perreira’s $90,000 bail.
“The defendant does have (a prior criminal record) including two felony drug convictions from 2001, and I would note the complaint in this case is 14 counts of felony drug charges. Also, the address he lives at, the current residence in the bail study, is also the address where police executed a narcotics search warrant and recovered plants and material that tested presumptive positive for marijuana.”
Takase maintained Perreira’s bail “based on the serious nature of these offenses, a number of which are Class A felonies.” She scheduled a preliminary hearing at 2 p.m. Monday.
Perreira is listed in county tax records as the owner of the home where he lives as well as at least one of the adjoining parcels. He’s charged with four counts of first-degree promotion of marijuana, a Class A felony punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment, four counts of second-degree promotion of marijuana, a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and six counts of possessing drug paraphernalia, a Class C felony punishable by up to five years behind bars.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
