Posted on: Thursday, January 29, 2004

Ex-prison guards among five Maui residents indicted on ice charges

Advertiser Staff

A federal grand jury yesterday indicted five Maui residents, including four former prison guards, charging them with distributing crystal methamphetamine.

The five are Walter Kan Hai, 40, Todd Frias, 36, Shelley Fernandez, 30, Michael "Midnight" Rivera, 41, and Joseph Kahana, 33. Kan Hai, Frias, Fernandez and Rivera have worked as corrections officers at the Maui Community Correctional Center, while Kahana was an inmate on work release from the prison when the offenses occurred, said U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo.

Kubo said the five are accused of distributing ice from March 2000 to November 2001. He said none of the transactions occurred inside the prison.

The indictments followed a long investigation by the Maui Police Department and the FBI, with the assistance of the state Department of Public Safety, Kubo said.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Bracco.