Posted on: Thursday, September 4, 2003

Leader of 'ice' ring gets 30-year term

Associated Press

The leader of a ring that shipped more than 1,000 pounds of crystal methamphetamine to Honolulu over five years has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison without parole.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra also fined Michael Schulze of Las Vegas $50,000 and ordered the forfeiture of property acquired with proceeds of drug trafficking. That included a Las Vegas house, two large boats, cars and trucks, a bulldozer and a diamond ring.

Schulze, 36, was convicted by a federal jury in February on drug-trafficking conspiracy and drug distribution charges. He was sentenced Tuesday.

Evidence showed that Schulze arranged for shipments of crystal meth, or "ice," from Las Vegas to Hawai'i in 1997-2002, said U.S. Attorney Edward Kubo Jr.

According to Kubo, Schulze also laundered $1.3 million in cash transactions through several dummy corporations he set up.

The case illustrates not only the substantial quantities of ice being imported into Hawai'i, but also the large amount of profit generated by ice-trafficking, Kubo said.