Swing Video store owner charged in drug raid
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
Police and federal agents arrested a 50 year-old Honolulu woman yesterday and charged her with running a drug sanctuary at her adult video store on Kapi'olani Boulevard.
Federal prosecutors said the arrest marked the high point of a two-year investigation dubbed Operation Lowdown.
Betty Yi Hernandez, also known as Suki, was charged with one count of maintaining an establishment for the purpose of distributing and using drugs, particularly crack cocaine, and 91 counts of money laundering.
Each federal charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
"It was a combined effort that pierced the privacy they were trying to protect," said U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo, who called the arrest the "crowning achievement" of the investigation. "Some people get brazen when they think they're untouchable, and they let their guard down."
Drug Enforcement Administration agents and HPD officers raided Hernandez's business, Swing Video, at 1304 Kapi'olani Blvd., at about 8 a.m. yesterday, arresting Hernandez and seizing an undisclosed quantity of drugs and money.
Federal prosecutors allege that since 1999, Hernandez has charged drug dealers $20 to sell drugs in Swing Video's private booths, and $2 to anyone who entered her store wanting to buy drugs.
In exchange, she offered a protected area where dealers could sell drugs without being seen by police, prosecutors said.
Between November 1999 and June 2003, Hernandez used the proceeds from her drug house to make $334,000 in lease payments for Swing Video, prosecutors said. During that same period, she made $93,000 in mortgage payments on her apartment at 3075 Ala Poha Place, they said.
In addition to the video store and apartment, bank accounts and vehicles belonging to Hernandez were seized and are subject to forfeiture.
During Operation Lowdown, a joint effort by federal, state and Honolulu law enforcement to arrest suspected drug dealers, investigators executed 24 search warrants, 21 of them in Hawai'i. Two search warrants were executed in Costa Mesa, Calif., and one in Phoenix, Ariz. Before yesterday's raid, 38 people had been arrested in the investigation.
Federal prosecutors said most of the crack and methamphetamine sold at Swing Video came from distributors in Costa Mesa and Phoenix, and indictments have been handed down in those cities in connection with the case.
Another Honolulu establishment, L & D Bar, was raided earlier this year. People arrested in that raid provided evidence that led investigators to Swing Video, said Briane Grey, assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Hawai'i.
"Swing Video is closed down and is no longer a threat to the community," Grey said.
Swing Video has been targeted for drug activity before. Since moving to Kapi'olani Boulevard after its Chinatown operation was shut down by federal marshals in February 1999, it has been raided by Honolulu police at least 10 times because of community complaints of drug activity.
In addition to the DEA, Honolulu police, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service, and U.S. Marshals participated in yesterday's arrest. The investigation also involved the Hawai'i High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force.
Kubo praised the raid as an example of how the federal Weed and Seed program can help clean up communities. In August, the program's boundaries were extended beyond the Kalihi/Palama/Chinatown area to include the Ala Moana/Kaheka/Sheridan area, where Swing Video is located.
Weed and Seed is a coordinated effort by city, state and federal law-enforcement agencies and residents to target violent crime, drug abuse and gang activity. Official designation brings federal money to fight crime and toughen federal penalties for violations in the area.
Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8110.
