Federal jury convicts two in 'ice' ring

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

Two men face possible life sentences without parole after a federal jury found them guilty of drug and firearm charges related to an operation that imported hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine which was processed into "ice" in Hawai'i.

Herman G. Lemusu and his cousin, Alofaga Lemusu, both 38, were found guilty Friday of drug conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, methamphetamine distribution and manufacture, and firearm charges after a four-week trial and only about one day of jury deliberations.

Edward Kubo, U.S. attorney for Hawai'i, said evidence presented during the trial showed that Herman Lemusu was the organizer and leader of the operation during a seven-year span in which he brought raw methamphetamine to Hawai'i from his base of operations in Los Angeles.

Alofaga Lemusu then converted the raw material into crystal meth with the aid of a number of conversion laboratories, the most notable of which was at the Sunset Villas apartment complex in Waipahu, said Ken Sorenson, the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case.

The ice was then distributed through a system of sub-dealers associated with the organization, Kubo said.

He said testimony presented during the trial showed that the Lemusu organization wired more than $500,000 from Hawai'i to California using a network that included drug users and family members as the money senders and receivers.

Kubo said bulk shipments of cash were also sent to the Mainland and that more than $1 million in drug money was sent via a money laundering scheme that involved businesses and activities in California and American Samoa.

The two men are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 29.

Kubo said the case blended investigations by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Honolulu Police Department and the National Marine Fisheries Law Enforcement Division.