Hilo man sentenced after pleading guilty to drug charge

A Hilo man was sentenced to a 10-year prison term in Hilo Circuit Court Thursday after pleading guilty to possession of 19 grams of methamphetamine.

On Nov. 9, 2023, Duke Kaleolani Malakaua, 51, pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted promotion of a dangerous drug, a class B felony, and first-degree unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, a class C felony.

The offenses stemmed from incidents involving the theft of a Chevrolet pickup, originally reported stolen from a business located on Olowalu Street in Kona between Aug. 9-10, 2023, and the attempted distribution of methamphetamine after being observed by police to be operating the same Chevrolet pickup on Sept. 2, 2023, near the Hilo Armory.

After obtaining a narcotics search warrant for the pickup, Hawai‘i Island police VICE officers recovered over 19 grams of methamphetamine broken down into distributable amounts and various drug paraphernalia including 42 clean/unused clear Ziploc-type packets.

The drug charge carries a maximum penalty of a 10-year prison term and the stolen vehicle charge carries a penalty of a five-year prison term.