Honolulu, HAWAII — A Samoan drug defendant, who is among the more than a dozen Samoans charges at federal court in Honolulu, has been sentenced to serve more than ten-years in federal prison, according to court documents.

Alesana Vaimasanu’u, was among the 37 defendants who were charged in six related drug trafficking cases, under separate indictments handed down in November of 2016.  In March this year, Vaimasanu’u pled guilty to Count 1 of Indictment, which charges him with conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

He also pled guilty, under a plea agreement with the US Justice Department, to a separate count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. The defendant has a previous criminal record, according to court documents.

Vaimasanu’u, who remains in custody appeared for sentencing on July 9 this year before US District Court Judge Derrick K. Watson, who sentenced the defendant to 168 months in federal prison for the drug charge and 120 months for the firearm possession charge, according to court records, which also state that the jail terms are to “run concurrently”,  followed by 5 years supervised release.

Meanwhile, another Samoan defendant in this drug case, Jeremiah Ieremia awaits a final decision by the court on his motion to withdraw his quilty plea, entered last year. Through his attorney, Ieremia argued among other things, that his former attorney, John Schum, “erroneously advised” him on the plea agreement and Schum had “grossly mischaracterized the law by advising... Ieremia that he would be sentenced to an agreed-upon amount of time.” (See Samoa News edition July 6 for details.)

An evidentiary hearing was held last week in Ieremia’s case and Watson will issue a written order. There is no word as to when a decision will be rendered.

Samoa News notes that other defendants in this major drug case — spanning to California —  are scheduled for sentencing soon, but a lot of court documents and filings are sealed, as ordered by the court.