An Oahu couple was arrested Sunday at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport after checked baggage for a Honolulu-bound flight on Southwest Airlines was found to contain about 26 pounds of marijuana.
Malakai John Mikaele, 30, of Honolulu and 29-year-old Napua-Kuuipo Aumua-Yamamoto of Hauula, Oahu, were taken into custody, according to a police log, and Mikaele was charged with first-degree commercial promotion of marijuana and first-degree promotion of a detrimental drug.
The commercial promotion of marijuana charge is a Class A felony that carries a potential 20-year prison sentence. The promotion of a detrimental drug charge is a Class C felony with a maximum five-year prison term.
According to court documents filed by police, the Hawaii Police Department was notified by Transportation Security Administration officers at the airport that the marijuana was found in 22 vacuum-sealed bags inside a garbage bag contained in a Home Depot box checked in under Aumua-Yamamoto’s name.
Police conducted interviews with the suspects, and Mikaele claimed responsibility for the marijuana.
According to a TSA document also filed by police, the couple was flying with Aumua-Yamamoto’s 5-year-old daughter, who was identified only by her initials, and another adult.
Aumua-Yamamoto was released on her own recognizance, which suggests she also was charged — although she didn’t appear in court Monday, nor does her case yet appear on the state Judiciary website.
Documents don’t indicate what, if anything, happened with either the child or the third adult.
At Mikaele’s initial appearance Monday in Kona District Court, Deputy Public Defender Victoria Andrade-McKeehan noted that Mikaele has no prior convictions and requested that he either be freed on supervised release or released on his own recognizance — both forms of cashless bail — or that his bail be reduced. Andrade-McKeehan said that Mikaele was responsible for financial support of his family.
Deputy Prosecutor Kate Perazich asked the court to maintain Mikaele’s bail.
Judge David Harada-Stone reduced Mikaele’s bail to $50,000 and ordered him to appear for a preliminary hearing at 2:30 p.m. today.
Mikaele remains in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
