Posted on: Thursday, September 19, 2002

Chinatown drug sale brings 15-year sentence

Advertiser Staff

An O'ahu man has been sentenced to 15 years, eight months in federal prison for selling rock cocaine to an undercover police officer downtown on Feb. 23.

Edward Kubo, U.S. attorney for Hawai'i, said Amo Taufi, 44, sold cocaine weighing little more than a few grains of rice on North Hotel Street, which is part of the federal "Weed and Seed" area.

That federal designation required U.S. District Judge Susan Mollway to sentence Taufi — who had previous convictions and had been designated a career offender — to a much harsher sentence than he would have received under federal sentencing guidelines, according to Kubo.

The Weed and Seed program targets areas plagued by drug offenses and other crimes.

The sentence does not offer the possibility of parole, which has been abolished in the federal criminal justice system.

The Honolulu Police Department investigated the case.