Ads by Google Ads by Google

American Samoan man pleads guilty in federal ‘meth’ case

U.S. Federal District Courthouse in Honolulu
Last year, Alapati Vaivai was arrested here and taken to Hawai’i by feds
fili@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — An American Samoan man, who was arrested here last year and taken to Hawaii by federal agents, has pled guilty to a second drug case at the federal court in Honolulu.

Alapati Vaivai is one of the 14 defendants who were charged in a federal indictment handed down Aug. 22 by a federal grand jury in Honolulu in an alleged drug trafficking case, which includes four other defendants with Samoan last names, according to court documents.

He was arrested here and taken to Honolulu on Sept. 30, 2018, where he entered a not guilty plea. Late last year, a superseding indictment was handed down against all defendants, who are currently going through several hearings.

Vaivai is charged with one count of “conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine”, according to court documents. (Samoa News understands that the drug charge occurred while Vaivai was living in Honolulu before returning to American Samoa sometime before August 2018.)

However, on Apr. 18th this year, federal prosecutors filed a separate case — charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, according to court records.

On Tuesday this week, Vaivai appeared before US District Court Leslie E. Kobayashi for arraignment and a plea hearing, where the defendant waived being charged by indictment and pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine.

Penalties for the offense is a prison term of not less than 5 years and not more than 40 years and a fine, plus a term of supervised release of not less than 4 years and up to life.

A 19-page plea agreement was also filed with the court in which he admitted to the offense, which occurred between January 1 and August 28th of last year in Hawaii and “elsewhere”. In exchange for the guilty plea, the prosecutor will move to dismiss the drug charge in the superseding indictment handed down last year.

The plea agreement provided details of where Vaivai worked in Honolulu and the reason he was charged.

According to the prosecutor, the defendant knew co-defendant Jordan Billianor-Napeahi (who is charged in the superseding indictment) was a “methamphetamine dealer”.

During the period of the conspiracy, the defendant purchased methamphetamine “on many occasions from Billianor-Napeahi for his personal use and to distribute to others.”

In total, the defendant purchased and/ or distributed more than 50 grams of methamphetamine, according to the plea agreement, in which prosecutors claimed that the defendant also used his position as a security guard at Kuhio Park Terrace Apartments to act as a "lookout" for law enforcement and notify Billianor-Napeahi when law enforcement entered and exited the Kuhio Park Terrace Apartments — (known to many Samoans as KPT housing in Kalihi).

According to prosecutors, the defendant was intercepted in a court authorized wiretap on multiple occasions in communications with Billianor-Napeahi. For example, on Feb. 3, 2018, law enforcement intercepted a call between the defendant and Billianor-Napeahi in which the defendant warned Billianor-Napeahi that undercover law enforcement officers were entering KPT.

The defendant later sent a text message to Billianor-Napeahi notifying him that the undercover law enforcement officers had left and that "all was clear."

Also during the period of the conspiracy, law enforcement intercepted many communications between the defendant and Billianor-Napeahi in which the defendant asked to purchase methamphetamine from Billianor-Napeahi for himself and others.

“And, the defendant in fact purchased methamphetamine from Billianor-Napeahi for himself and others on many occasions,” the plea agreement said, adding that the defendant also agrees to fully cooperate with federal government on the case against his co-defendants.

Vaivai, who is currently released from custody on several conditions set by the court, will be sentenced Aug. 29th.

With his guilty plea in this case, the court has vacated his trial date and other hearings on the first drug case, where he is charged with other defendants.