HONOLULU (AP) — The leader of a drug trafficking ring charged in what’s been described as Hawaii’s largest crystal methamphetamine case avoided a mandatory 20-year minimum sentence Wednesday because he testified at trials against his co-defendants.
John Tai was assaulted in prison at the beginning of one of the trials in retaliation for his cooperation. His family also was shot at, including his wife’s sister, who was wounded when someone fired at her California home, the judge and prosecutor in the case said.
Tai’s wife, Gertrude Sale, also helped by recording conversations about drug deals with her husband’s co-defendants. After the shooting, Homeland Security officials had to temporarily relocate Sale and the couple’s children, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Muehleck.
Taking Tai’s “substantial cooperation” into consideration, U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi on Wednesday sentenced him to a little more than eight years in prison. He’s already served about five years.
The couple’s help meant Tai couldn’t be released on bail because that would look suspicious, his attorney, Alan Baum, said in asking the judge to sentence Tai to time served.
Tai remained in prison, “constantly, every day looking over his shoulder and being aware of the possibility for retaliation,” Baum said. The dangers Tai, his wife and children face from cooperating will continue, he added.
“They’re going to have to figure out how they’re going to protect themselves the rest of their lives,” Baum said.
The 2011 case involved 19 defendants, many of whom are Tai’s relatives. They trafficked hundreds of pounds of crystal meth, worth millions of dollars, to Hawaii, where the drug is very popular.
Prosecutors credit Tai and Sale’s help with obtaining convictions, including against the ring’s supplier, Walter Dominguez.
Witnesses testified about how ring members used encrypted emails and code words to transport drugs to Hawaii and money back to California. Prosecutors say the ring wasn’t very sophisticated or complicated but involved methods such as sending batches of cash to California disguised as presents.
Tai, of Carson, California, seized on Hawaii’s appetite for the drug and lured family members to participate in the ring, prosecutors said.
One of them was his sister, Sifatutupu Fuamatu, a former Delta Air Lines ramp agent and prison guard, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the ring. She admitted using her security credentials to transport hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug money from Hawaii to California. She said Dominguez paid her $6,000 for each trip.
Meth dealing “has been a real tragedy for our community,” Kobayashi said.
She noted Tai has a significant criminal history, including dealing drugs from inside a federal prison in Colorado. But she said he’s shown deep remorse and was a compelling witness for the government.
“Clearly he was the key showpiece for the prosecution, and he came through,” the judge said.