HONOLULU—United States District Judge Derrick K. Watson sentenced Serafine Magallon, 41, to 225 months’ imprisonment on August 11, for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than five hundred grams of methamphetamine. In sentencing Magallon, a San Jose, California resident, Judge Watson found that he held a leadership role in the conspiracy.

United State Attorney Florence T. Nakakuni said that according to information produced in court, the case involved undercover and wiretap investigations and the coordinated efforts of law enforcement agents in Honolulu, Nevada, and California. The information reflected that in August 2012, an express mail parcel containing nine pounds of methamphetamine (“ice”) was seized in Honolulu after it was sent from Las Vegas to Honolulu. The seizure resulted in the arrests of Honolulu and Las Vegas residents. Those arrests in turn led to additional arrests, including that of Magallon, and the seizure of approximately 20 more kilograms of “ice” in Las Vegas, Sacramento and Honolulu as a result of searches in all three locations.

The case resulted from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration in the judicial districts of Hawaii, Nevada, and Eastern California, as well as the United States Postal Inspection Service. Assistant United States Attorney Beverly Wee Sameshima handled the prosecution.