Dwayne P. Gouveia, Methamphetamine Trafficking, Hawaii 2023

HONOLULU — A major blow was dealt to the methamphetamine trade on the Big Island as four residents were sentenced to federal prison for their role in the crime.

Dwayne P. Gouveia, 58, of Waimea, Hawaii, was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. This was not Gouveia’s first run-in with the law. He was previously sentenced by the Court in 2005 to ten years imprisonment for attempted possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

According to information presented to the court, the four defendants conspired to distribute methamphetamine on the Island of Hawaii during spring 2020. On May 20, 2020, special agents of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and officers of the Hawaii County Police Department interrupted a distribution of approximately two pounds of methamphetamine by Billie Jack Peridot Kawelo and Malia Broome to Maximillian Oleksiak. The drugs had been supplied by Gouveia to Broome earlier that day. In addition to the methamphetamine, agents and officers seized almost $20,000 in cash and arrested Kawelo and Broome on that date. The cash has since been forfeited to the government.

The evidence collected by the government demonstrated that the four defendants had been working together to distribute pound and multi-pound quantities of methamphetamine multiple times per week for approximately two months preceding the May 20, 2020 seizures and arrests. Additionally, in January 2018, agents and officers intercepted a shipment of approximately one pound of methamphetamine intended for Oleksiak in a transaction unrelated to the conspiracy.

Gouveia, who was sentenced by Senior United States District Judge Helen Gillmor, is not the only one to face the music. His co-conspirators in methamphetamine trafficking also received their sentences. Maximillian Oleksiak, 46, of Keaau, was sentenced on November 1, 2021, to 110 months imprisonment. Billie Jack Peridot Kawelo, 43, of Keaau, was sentenced on November 18, 2021, to 60 months imprisonment. Malia Broome, 45, of Kamuela, was sentenced on November 18, 2021, to 48 months imprisonment and a fine of $5,000.

“Methamphetamine remains our state’s dominant drug trafficking problem, as this prosecution of four Big Island residents demonstrates,” said U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors. “We will continue to work with all law enforcement agencies to prosecute those who deal large quantities of methamphetamine across our state.”

The investigation was conducted by HSI and the Hawaii County Police Department, with assistance from the Hawaii County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig S. Nolan prosecuted the case.

Related Federal Cases