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Superseding indictment charges Kaisa and Louis Tai in new federal drug case

Kaisa and his younger brother Louis Tai are now charged under a superseding indictment handed down last week by a federal grand jury in Honolulu, but the pair’s older brother, John Tai, is not included in the new drug case.

Kaisa and Louis were arrested in the territory last summer and taken to Honolulu where they were charged with other defendants in a federal drug case, while John Tai was later arrested at his home in California and taken to Honolulu.

Last month John Tai pled guilty at the federal court, which came several days after federal agents arrested four people in Honolulu in a new drug case, which identified Tai as head of a “drug trafficking organization”.

In this new drug case, one of the defendants is Sifatutupu Fuamatu, who is accused by federal agents of using her security credentials to bypass airport security in order to transport drug money to California. She was an employee of Delta Air Lines at the Honolulu airport.

NEW SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT

The new superseding indictment handed down last week Wednesday charges some of the individuals from the drug case last year, including Kaisa and Louis Tai and the defendants from the drug case last month, including Sifatutupu Fuamatu and Falefia Fuamatu. (Samoa News has been unable to verify from court documents the relationship between Sifatutupu and Falefia).

Those not included in the new 16-page indictment are the ones who have already entered guilty pleas and are awaiting sentencing.

Others charged in the new  superseding indictment are Fouina C. Toilolo, Aloali’i To’oto’o, Harry Akana, Daniel Fola, Walter Dominguez, Larry Hoohena Chung and Lloyd Talia.

The defendants are charged with knowingly and intentionally conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute about 400 pounds of methamphetamine, according to the indictment which specifies dates when the meth transactions allegedly occurred as well as the amount of money collected or received in exchange for distribution of the meth.

For example, a cooperating individual received around Feb. 23, 2010 about four pounds of meth from Louis Tai, which was supplied by Dominguez and was later provided to Tootoo for distribution. The indictment further alleges that between May 24 and Aug. 30, 2010 more than $70,000 was exchanged between the defendants as partial payment for the four pounds of meth.

The indictment also cited another drug transaction where money was exchanged as partial payment. And then in May of last year, Dominguez allegedly sent approximately 174 pounds of meth from California to Chung in Hawai’i for distribution.

On Sept. 18 last year, Falefia Fuamatu flew from Honolulu to Los Angeles to deliver $350,000 in drug proceeds to Dominguez, according to the indictment. The following day, Sifatutupu Fuamatu allegedly flew from Honolulu to Los Angeles to deliver $604,075 in drug proceeds to Dominguez.

It is also alleged that between Sept. 24 and Oct. 14, 2011, Dominguez sent separate shipments of meth totaling 156 pounds from California to Chung for distribution in Hawai’i.

In November, Sifatutupu Fuamatu and Falefia Fuamatu allegedly flew to Los Angeles from Honolulu to deliver $554,000 in drug proceeds to Dominguez.

The last shipment of meth, 118 pounds, from Dominguez was in March this year, according to the indictment, which also alleges that one of the defendants paid more than $150,000 in drug proceeds to a “confidential informant”.

All defendants charged under the new superseding indictment appeared Monday in federal court where they entered not guilty pleas.