Ex-tennis coach gets seven years on drug charge
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
A former part-time tennis coach for the University of Hawai'i-Hilo was sentenced yesterday to seven years and eight months in federal prison for cultivating marijuana plants at Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island and violating his supervisory release for a 1994 heroin trafficking conviction.
Federal Judge Alan Kay ordered Laron Kortgaard, 46, to serve three years and 10 months for growing 65 marijuana plants at the park. The judge ordered him to serve an additional three years and 10 months because he was on supervisory release for the heroin conviction when he committed the marijuana offense.
A federal court jury found Kortgaard guilty in June 2002 of growing the marijuana adjacent to Maunaloa Strip Road. He claimed to have stumbled onto the plants while hiking, but park rangers had videotaped him tending the plants.
Assistant United States Attorney Michael Kawahara urged Kay to apply the high end of the range called for under federal sentencing guidelines.
Kawahara said Kortgaard "learned absolutely nothing" when Kay sentenced him to a 10-year-term for the heroin offense in 1994. He had been out of prison about 10 months and was on supervised release when he began growing marijuana in the park, Kawahara said.
Kortgaard was released in January 2001 after receiving credit for time served before his sentence and for good behavior.
Kawahara told Kay that in addition to the drug convictions in Hawai'i, Kortgaard had an extensive criminal record as a juvenile in Canada and continued his criminal behavior as an adult.
"He has spent more than half of his adult life incarcerated, and the other half committing the crimes that led to his incarceration," Kawahara told Kay.
Kortgaard's lawyer, David Klein, said most of Kortgaard's convictions took place more than 20 years ago. He said Kortgaard was making an effort to be a good coach at UH-Hilo.
But Kawahara said that when traces of marijuana turned up in a urine sample Kortgaard provided to his probation officer while on supervised release, Kortgaard claimed to have eaten a marijuana-laced brownie supplied by someone while attending a party with members of the tennis team he was coaching.
After his arrest in March 2002 in the marijuana case, Kortgaard was fired from his part-time tennis coaching job. UH-Hilo officials said he failed to show up for work after his arrest, missed practices and a meet and failed to inform the administration about his absences.
Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
