Feds sentence Big Island man to 10 years for meth distribution
Senior U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor on Wednesday sentenced 58-year-old Dwayne P. Gouveia of Waimea to 10 years in for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Gouveia was previously sentenced by the court in 2005 to 10 years for attempted possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Judge Gillmor also sentenced Gouveia’s co-conspirators in methamphetamine trafficking: • Maximillian Oleksiak, 46, of Keaau, sentenced on Nov. 1 to 110 months imprisonment; Billie Jack Peridot Kawelo, 43, of Keaau, sentenced on Nov. 18 to 60 months imprisonment; and Malia Broome, 45, of Waimea, sentenced on Nov. 18 to 48 months imprisonment and a fine of $5,000.
ADVERTISING
According to information presented to the court, the four defendants conspired to distribute methamphetamine on the Island of Hawaii during spring 2020.
On May 20, 2020, special agents of Homeland Security Investigations and officers of the Hawaii County Police Department interrupted a distribution of approximately two pounds of methamphetamine by Kawelo and Broome to Oleksiak. The drugs had been supplied by Gouveia to Broome earlier that day.
In addition to the methamphetamine, agents and officers seized almost $20,000 in cash and arrested Kawelo and Broome on that date. The cash has since been forfeited to the government.
“Methamphetamine remains our state’s dominant drug trafficking problem, as this prosecution of four Big Island residents demonstrates,” said U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors. “We will continue to work with all law enforcement agencies to prosecute those who deal large quantities of methamphetamine across our state.”
