LIHU‘E — A man who sold methamphetamine to a police informant and was subsequently found with nearly an ounce of “ice” in a safe at his home was recently sentenced to a year in prison.
Robby Charles Silva, 47, most recently of Hanama‘ulu, was sentenced by 5th Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano on June 10 in five separate cases, the result of a global plea agreement involving four defense attorneys and the county prosecutor’s office.
For the most serious offense, second-degree methamphetamine trafficking, a class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Valenciano gave Silva a year in prison and probation for five years, with several conditions.
Silva was originally charged with first-degree methamphetamine trafficking, a class A felony, after 34.4 grams were found in a safe in his Kapa‘a home, but under terms of the plea agreement he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree methamphetamine trafficking.
He also pleaded guilty to contempt of court, family abuse, and to county zoning violations for operating a towing company and junk yard and having unpermitted buildings on agricultural-zoned land in Kapa‘a.
For those other violations he was sentenced to 48 hours in jail with credit for time already served, and a year of probation, all of which is to run concurrently with the other, longer, drug-related sentences.
Sam Jajich, county deputy prosecutor, represented the state. Edmund Acoba, John Calma and Dena Renti Cruz, state deputy public defenders, and Caren Dennemeyer, in the drug case, represented Silva.
A digital scale and around $2,000 in cash was found along with the drugs when Kaua‘i Police Department officers executed a search warrant on Silva’s residence in 2008.
Jajich had asked Valenciano to sentence Silva to 10 years in prison.
Valenciano also ordered Silva to pay thousands of dollars in fines and fees.
• Paul C. Curtis, assistant editor and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.
