HONOLULU — United States District Court Judge David Ezra sentenced a 33-year-old woman on Monday who was involved in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine on Kaua‘i. Zeny Mabasa Ordonez, 33, is the only one of six defendants to stand trial
HONOLULU — United States District Court Judge David Ezra sentenced a 33-year-old woman on Monday who was involved in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine on Kaua‘i.
Zeny Mabasa Ordonez, 33, is the only one of six defendants to stand trial on the October 2007 charges of conspiracy to distribute and import methamphetamine, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.
She received a prison term of 11 years and four months for her part in the conspiracy. The drugs originated from the Philippines.
The other defendants pleaded guilty and were previously sentenced to the following terms:
• Santiago Leones, age 47 — 11 years
• Wanda Oshiro, age 44 — seven years and six months
• Wilson Leones, age 39 — four years and four months
• Brian Chrzanowski, age 49 — One year and six months
• Gary Alan Silva, no age available — six years and six months
Kaua‘i residents Leones and Oshiro, according to information produced in court, acquired meth for sale on Kaua‘i from Chrzanowski of Honolulu and fellow Kaua‘i resident Silva.
In June 2007, they decided to get the drug through Leone’s nephew in the Philippines, Wilson Busque Leones. The following month, Ordonez — then a Maui resident — was transporting some 94 grams of meth in her luggage when Kaua‘i Police Department officers seized it at Lihu‘e Airport. Leones and Ordonez had the meth imported from the Philippines, the release states.
U.S. attorney Florence T. Nakakuni said this federal criminal case is one of three methamphetamine trafficking cases developed as a result of a wiretap investigation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration and KPD from April to July 2007.
The other two criminal cases involved the transportation and attempted delivery of some 6.3 pounds of meth from O‘ahu and Sacramento, Calif., into Kaua‘i during 2007. All nine defendants in those two cases eventually pleaded guilty and were sentenced to the following imprisonment terms:
• Edward Cachola, age 44, of Kaua‘i — 16 years
• David Lane, age 41, of Kaua‘i — 11 years
• Desmond Mundon, age 35, of Kaua‘i — three years
• Summer Ebesu, age 36, of Kaua‘i — three years
• James Kiko, age 39, of O‘ahu —10 years
• David Bishop, age 47, of Sacramento — 13 years
• Donald Fowler, age 35, of Sacramento — eight years
• Kendra Jackson, age 39, of Sacramento — two years and six months
• Arthur Walsh, age 57, of Sacramento — five years and six months
In addition, two other Sacramento residents, Joseph Leone, 35, and 25-year-old Morris Frazier II were separately prosecuted in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento for their involvement in this methamphetamine trafficking scheme. They ultimately pleaded guilty.
U.S. attorney Nakakuni commended the efforts of the DEA and KPD agents and officers, which resulted in the drug seizures and significant sentences achieved. Assistant United States Attorney Michael K. Kawahara prosecuted all of the District of Hawai‘i cases.
