LIHU‘E — The primary supplier for former Conty Councilmember Arthur Brun’s drug ring was sentenced by a federal judge to 100 months in federal prison Friday.
Maluelue Umu, who admitted to providing Brun with multiple pounds of meth, pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of meth in June 2021.
The sentence, which amounts to slightly more than eight years with the possibility of parole, followed by four years of supervised release, is the harshest of any of the 11 Brun co-conspirators so far. But it was much less severe than the 20-year sentence Brun received in May, after Judge Derrick K. Watson denied a 15-year plea deal reached with prosecutors.
“The court carefully considered all of the necessary factors and found that Mr. Umu was not as culpable as Mr. Brun,” said Umu’s lawyer, Barry So‘oalo. “That’s why there was this wide disparity in sentencing between the two.”
A condition of the sentence requires Umu, described in court documents as a known member of the United Samoan Organization (USO) gang, to disassociate himself from USO, Sons of Samoa, or any other gangs involved in criminal activities.
A wolf guarding
the hen house
According to court documents, Umu met Brun in 2016 while participating in a prisoner re-entry program at Kaua‘i Community Correctional Center, called Church on the Beach.
The then-council member would transport inmates to community-service events focused on feeding and clothing the homeless community. Umu was just one of these inmates that later became involved in Brun’s criminal activities.
Umu’s lawyer depicted Brun’s involvement in the jail as “a wolf being assigned to guard the hen house.”
“He was essentially a predator, and he was very good at what he did, which is identifying those he believed could be manipulated,” said So‘oalo. “Unfortunately, Mr. Umu was one of the people that he targeted and used for his purposes.”
Other sources, including Brun’s prosecutors, have described him as “sincerely working on behalf of his community” during this time period, “rather than using that role as a front or cover for criminal activity.”
After Umu’s release, the pair remained friends. In 2018, Brun reached out to him asking for his assistance in moving meth.
“Umu understood Brun was trying to use Umu’s reputation as a known member of the United Samoan Organization to create the impression that Brun had strong-arm influence,” Umu’s plea deal reads.
By 2019, with the assistance of another former KCCC inmate and USO gang member, Umu was supplying pounds of meth to Brun. Umu would hand off large quantities of “ice” to the councilmember in Wal-Mart bags, in exchange for bags or envelopes full of cash.
Umu would pay his supplier between $6,000 and $7,000 for a pound of meth, which he would flip to Brun for around $9,000.
It was Umu who supplied the bag of meth thrown out the window of Brun’s vehicle during a car chase with the Kaua‘i Police Department in Oct. 2019.
In Feb. 2020, Umu was arrested along with Brun and 10 other co-conspirators.
Umu’s sentence was lower than the 136-month recommendation from the government.
Watson recommended Umu be placed at federal correctional institutions in Sheridan, Oregon or Lompoc, California, and that he participate in a 500-hour residential drug-abuse program.
Other co-conspirators have received lighter sentences, ranging from 20 months to seven years.
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Guthrie Scrimgeour, reporter, can be reached at 808-647-0329 or gscrimgeour@thegardenisland.com.
