Maui Resident Sentenced to 220 Months’ Imprisonment for Methamphetamine Trafficking
| U.S. Attorney’s Office August 13, 2013 |
HONOLULU—John Lee Balberdi, age 39, of Wailuku, Maui, was sentenced today by Chief United States District Judge Susan Oki Mollway to 220 months’ imprisonment for being a leader and organizer of a conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Florence T. Nakakuni, United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said that Balberdi, who has a prior felony drug conviction, was arrested and prosecuted after over 550 grams of pure methamphetamine was seized by the Maui Police Department in February 2009 from the Kahului residence of one of Balberdi’s co-conspirators. Balberdi admitted to distributing another 40 pounds of methamphetamine in furtherance of the conspiracy between March 2007 and February 2009.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Maui Police Department. The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark A. Inciong.