LIHU‘E — A former Lihu‘e postal worker charged with selling unregistered guns was sentenced Monday to a three-year prison term in United States Federal District Court. Troy Haruki Hamura, 51, of Lihu‘e, was sentenced to concurrent 35-month prison terms and
LIHU‘E — A former Lihu‘e postal worker charged with selling unregistered guns was sentenced Monday to a three-year prison term in United States Federal District Court.
Troy Haruki Hamura, 51, of Lihu‘e, was sentenced to concurrent 35-month prison terms and a $10,000 fine for making a false statement in connection with the purchase of a firearm and for illegal possession of a machine gun. He accepted a plea deal in exchange for a guilty plea on Sept. 18, 2012.
Hamura apologized to the court. His adult daughter was present for the sentencing.
Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Oki-Mollway sentenced Hamura according to the federal guidelines of 30 to 37 months, according to Hamura’s private attorney Keith Shigetomi. The maximum possible sentence was two consecutive 10-year prison terms and a $250,000 fine.
Hamura had an adjustment to his sentence because he did an obstruction of justice during investigation, Shigetomi said. Hamura had agreed to cooperate with investigators in a monitored phone call but chose to protect his source who aided in acquiring the machine gun.
“He notified the person before he made the monitored call, that he was going to be doing that,” Shigetomi said. “Other than that, he might have had a different sentence.”
The prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Hino.
Hamura was arrested on a federal complaint dated July 25, following an investigation started after Hamura sold a firearm to a friend, who then tried to register it with the Kaua‘i Police Department.
He was convicted of falsely representing himself as authorized to receive a Springfield M1A1 rifle in 2011.
It was not lawful for Hamura to purchase the weapon, or for the U.S. Postal Service to ship it to him, without first shipping to a person with a Kalepa Mea Kaua Firearms license.
The complaint states that Hamura broke regulations by convincing a letter carrier to deliver the parcel to his address. Hamura admitted to intercepting a parcel addressed to a federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives agent.
The second charge relates to the June 14 search of Hamura’s residence, when ATF agents located a full-automatic assault rifle. The Colt AR15 was modified to function as its military version M16.
The plea deal came in part with an agreement that the Department of Justice would not pursue other possible firearms charges in the future. Federal agents had recovered 19 unregistered firearms, along with 30 registered firearms and 23,000 rounds of ammunition that did not form the basis of this case.
Shigetomi said that Hamura is a collector and the intent was not to sell the firearms.
Hamura was granted supervised release in August, and then resided in a half-way house. He self-surrendered earlier this month and will continue to be held at the Federal Detention Facility in Honolulu until it is determined where he will serve the remainder of his sentence.
Hamura will also have three years of supervised released following his prison sentence. It is the federal court’s version of probation, Shigetomi said.
“They do get credit time for time served and for good time,” he said.
The U.S. Postal Service did not respond for a request for comments by press time.
• Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0424 or tlaventure@thegardenisland.com.
