Police: Man who picked up parcel with drugs planned to distribute
Defense attorney says ‘he didn’t offer to sell it to anybody’
WAILUKU — A Waiehu man who was arrested after he was seen picking up a mailed parcel containing methamphetamine said he had planned to smoke the drug and “make a little bit of money,” a police officer testified Friday. In a statement to police two days after he was arrested Nov. 3, Peter Kamalii said a friend had told him the box would be arriving and was supposed to contain 8 to 10 pounds of methamphetamine, police Crime Reduction Unit officer Adam Akau said.
Testifying at a preliminary hearing in Wailuku District Court, Akau said Kamalii reported that the friend said “he didn’t want anything to do with it” before Kamalii took the box from an address on Haulani Street in Pukalani after it was delivered there on Nov. 3.
Kamalii said “he was going to smoke it, make a little bit of money,” Akau said.
When Deputy Prosecutor Joanne Hicks asked the officer whether it was his opinion that Kamalii was attempting to distribute methamphetamine, Akau said yes, based on what Kamalii said and the large amount of methamphetamine found in the parcel.
The USPS Express Mail parcel, which had a California return address, was intercepted by U.S. Postal Inspector Brian Shaughnessy in Honolulu. After it was screened by a narcotics K-9, Shaughnessy applied for and executed a federal search warrant on the parcel, then weighed and tested the crystal methamphetamine inside before turning it over to the Maui Police Department, Akau said.
He said the parcel contained five heat-sealed packages that held a total of 4.8 pounds of methamphetamine. Officers removed the methamphetamine before putting back 30 grams of the drug, along with imitation crystal methamphetamine and three T-shirts that had been in the box, Akau said. He said police also put a GPS tracker and beeper device in the box before sealing it.
Shaughnessy delivered the package, leaving it by the front gate of the residence, Akau said.
Crime Reduction Unit officers were doing surveillance when a few hours later, a resident arrived and kicked the package out of the way before reversing his truck in, Akau said. Soon after, he said a silver Toyota 4Runner driven by a woman showed up with Kamalii as a passenger. Kamalii was seen picking up the box and putting it in the 4Runner before the truck left, Akau said.
He said the truck traveled to Kula, stopping on Malanani Drive, where Kamalii and the woman got out and moved belongings into a two-door BMW convertible, which drove off before stopping and returning to Malanani Drive, apparently because of a mechanical problem.
There, police were alerted that the box had been opened and detained Kamalii, 42, and his 41-year-old girlfriend, Akau said. He said officers found the box a few feet away from Kamalii in brush.
Police found a small packet containing 0.75 gram of methamphetamine in Kamalii’s pocket, Akau said. He said Kamalii agreed to allow police to search the car, where police found a pipe containing 0.26 gram of methamphetamine.
In a statement to police the next day, Kamalii said the box was his, Akau said. “He also said he was hiding the box from his girlfriend and she had no knowledge of it.”
Kamalii said he had told the woman to get a jack to fix the car tire before he opened the box, Akau said.
Defense attorney Josh James argued the testimony didn’t support the charge of attempted first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug.
“He didn’t offer to sell it to anybody,” James said. “His girlfriend, who was in the car, didn’t know about it. All we have is a large amount of methamphetamine and the vocalization of the thought of making a little money off it.”
Hicks said “it’s not just thought alone” that supported the charge. She said Kamalii knew the parcel contained a large amount of drugs and took steps to retrieve it.
Judge Michelle Drewyer ruled there was probable cause to support the charge, citing testimony that Kamalii had picked up the box, transported it and cut it open, and had told police “he was going to use some and make some money.”
Drewyer also found probable cause for charges of firstdegree promotion of a dangerous drug, two counts of possessing drug paraphernalia and third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug.
Kamalii is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail at the Maui Community Correctional Center.
He is set to be arraigned Nov. 24 in 2nd Circuit Court.