Aaron Henry Dan, 22, of Wailuku and Michael Brown, 27, of Kihei both had pleaded no contest to second-degree commercial promotion of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Dan and Brown were taken into custody on June 15, 2006, at Mail Boxes Etc. in Kahului after showing up to claim two parcels that had been intercepted by postal authorities two days earlier.

Working with a U.S. postal inspector from Honolulu to obtain a federal search warrant, Maui vice officers recovered 5,118 grams of marijuana packed into musical drums shipped from Los Angeles to Kahului.

After getting permission to search Brown's residence, police also seized six more drums, 15 additional grams of marijuana and $1,959 in cash.

"This is more than simple possession and use," said Deputy Prosecutor Mark Simonds. "This was a moneymaking operation."

Although Dan and Brown were sentenced separately, Raffetto agreed to follow identical plea agreements between prosecutors and both men.

In accord with the terms of the agreements, both men were placed on five years' probation and ordered to spend six months in jail. Their convictions carried a potential 15 years in prison.

Philip Lowenthal, Dan's defense attorney, asked the judge to waive jail time for his client, citing Dan's willingness to cooperate with authorities and his clean record.

"He appears to be making a sincere effort to make changes in his life," Lowenthal said.

According to Dan, a full-time student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, he has been making better decisions since his arrest last June.

"I'm happy for the chance to keep my life on track," he said.

Brown said that he was making an effort to re-enroll in a substance abuse treatment program that he quit during the trial, violating the terms of his release on $50,000 bail.

"I do have a substance abuse problem and alcohol abuse problem," he said. "I thought I had it under control, but I didn't."

Simonds argued for more jail time, saying that despite the fact that both defendants were first-time offenders, the "sophistication" of the crime and the amount of marijuana that was found warranted a harsher sentence.

After listening to the prosecution and both defendants, Raffetto ordered the jail time as recommended in the plea agreement, saying that the seriousness of the crimes had to be taken into consideration.

"There is no question that this was hurting the community," Raffetto said. "This sort of behavior will not be tolerated."

Travis Kaya can be reached at tkaya@mauinews.com.