A Mexican national accused of possessing almost 2 pounds of methamphetamine has caught the attention of federal immigration officials.
At the initial court appearance Wednesday of Samuel Navarro Lagunas, Deputy Public Defender Austin Hsu requested that Hilo District Judge Michael Udovic grant Lagunas supervised release or reduce his $200,000 bail.
Udovic replied by asking Hsu if he knew U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had issued a “detainer” on Lagunas.
“If I grant him supervised release, he’s going to stay incarcerated,” Udovic said.
“Yes,” Hsu replied and asked that bail be reduced to $50,000.
Deputy Prosecutor Glenn Shiigi requested bail be maintained for Lagunas, a 53-year-old Hawaiian Paradise Park resident, “because of the large amount of methamphetamine seized … and for the public’s protection.”
“The Police Department seized almost 2 pounds of methamphetamine — 14.2 ounces in the defendants’ car, which defendant was driving at the time, and … just a little over 1 pound was found in … a self-storage unit that was rented out to the defendant,” Shiigi said.
Shiigi added that Lagunas was convicted in 2010 in Nevada for trafficking a controlled substance and spent a year in prison before being paroled.
“My information was he was deported from Nevada back to Mexico and somehow got back into the country,” Shiigi said.
Udovic maintained Lagunas’ bail and ordered him to return for a preliminary hearing at 2 p.m. today.
Lagunas is charged with attempted first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, three counts of first-degree possession of a dangerous drug and two counts of drug paraphernalia.
Police said information from an informant led them to set up surveillance in the parking lot of the KTA Super Stores complex on Puainako Street in Hilo. A search warrant was obtained for Lagunas’ 1998 Mercury sedan after a narcotics dog alerted them of the presence of drugs in the car, according to court documents. Lagunas was arrested on Aug. 31.
A second search warrant, executed Sunday on a unit at Affordable Self Storage on Railroad Avenue in Hilo, led to the seizure of the second large cache of crystal methamphetamine, or “ice,” documents state.
Police estimate the combined street value of the drugs at about $128,000.
Also seized was a Mexican passport, issued April 19 this year, with the name Samuel Lagunas Navarro and birthplace as Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
After the hearing, Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Lee said there is no deportation hearing scheduled for Lagunas. Lee declined to say whether Lagunas is in the U.S. legally, but added if Lagunas is granted supervised release or posts bail, he’ll be incarcerated at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu on the ICE detention order.