LIHU‘E — As former county council member turned drug kingpin Arthur Brun awaits transfer to a mainland prison, associates Steven Keli‘ikuli and Orlando Manguchei were sentenced to prison terms this week.
Keli‘ikuli, 53, who pled guilty to conspiring to distribute between 200 and 350 grams of meth this March, was sentenced to 41 months in prison at an O‘ahu courtroom Thursday.
Judge Derrick K. Watson sentenced Keli‘ikuli to three years supervised release and fined him $100.
Court documents say Keli‘ikuli spoke with Brun on a wiretap about acquiring three ounces of meth. Brun would also sometimes reside with Keli‘ikuli, who at one point assisted him in avoiding the police.
Keli‘ikuli’s attorney Jason Say reported that he lack of criminal record qualified him for the “safety valve” provisions under the federal First Step Act, which allowed him to avoid a higher minimum sentence that would usually apply in drug conspiracy cases.
Say explained that there is no parole in federal cases, but inmates can reduce their sentence with credits for good behavior or enrolling in a drug treatment program.
Judge Watson recommended that Keli‘ikuli be sent to a federal correction facility on the mainland, in either Sheridan, Lompoc or Terminal Island, and that he be placed in a drug treatment program.
Orlando Manguchei, 51, a Brun enforcer and ex-convict was given 44 months in prison and three years of supervised release for a weapons charge Wednesday.
In 2019, Brun was captured on a wiretap attempting to obtain an unregistered firearm for Manguchei’s use shortly after he had been released from prison on a federal felony offense.
Manguchei texted Brun offering to help him collect drug debts again, but Brun did not accept the offer at the time.
Court documents say Manguchei began collecting drug debts on Brun’s behalf as far back as the early 2000s.
Judge Watson recommended Manguchei serve his sentence at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu.
Both men were indicted along with Brun in early 2020.
Brun, the former vice chairman of the council’s Public Safety and Human Services Committee pled guilty to several charges including drug distribution, assault of a federal officer, attempting to obtain a weapon for a felon, and evidence and witness tampering.
Brun’s lawyer Rustam Barbee reported Wednesday that Brun remains at the federal detention center on O‘ahu, and that he had no intention to appeal the results of the sentencing.
“He’s probably going to do his time at a West Coast facility on the mainland,” Barbee said.
Brun received 20 years without possibility of parole this May after Judge Watson determined that the 15-year sentence he agreed to in his plea deal was too lenient.
