Saya found guilty
in one of the state’s
largest drug cases

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

After three years, one mistrial and a change of venue, one of the state's biggest "reverse" drug busts involving 50 pounds of crystal methamphetamine is finally over.

After nearly a day of deliberations, a federal jury yesterday found Robin S. Saya guilty of conspiracy and attempting to possess with intent to distribute crystal methamphetamine, or ice.

Saya, 51, faces a minimum of 10 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on April 12.

U.S. Attorney Steve Alm hailed the investigation involving Honolulu police, FBI and federal prosecutors as a "true team effort."

"For a lot of large-scale drug traffickers and other organized crime elements, you need to have a coordinated law enforcement response, and this case is a perfect example of that."

Saya was the last of six Honolulu defendants who were either found or pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess 50 pounds of crystal methamphetamine with intent to sell for $1.2 million from undercover law enforcement officers at Ala Moana area hotels between October and November 1995.

The amount of money that was marshaled in in the course of an afternoon to buy the drugs was significant, Alm said. "That these people brought hundreds of thousands of dollars showed the kind of players they were and the tremendous draw crystal methamphetamine has."

Two defendants -- Robbie Sylva and Frank Burke -- were convicted by a federal jury in Spokane, Wash. Three others -- Alfredo Bunag, Clinton Mau and Harland Kanahele -- pleaded guilty.

Bunag and Kanahele face sentencing in February. The others are serving sentences from four years to more than 13 years.

Saya was found guilty of bringing $230,000 cash to the drug deal. That money and a Chevy Blazer seized from him will be used to further law enforcement efforts.

Federal public defender Judy Clarke declined comment.

During opening statements however, the defense did not dispute Saya brought $230,000 to Bunag's Waikiki condominium but claimed the money was to help broker the purchase of a boat for Bunag, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Beverly Sameshima.

Bunag admitted to contributing $428,470 to the deal and delivering about $860,000 to narcotics agents.

Both Sameshima and Florence Nakakuni, who handled the government's case since it first ended in a mistrial in January 1997, say they are glad it's over. "It's been a long haul," Sameshima said.

After the mistrial, there were allegations of jury tampering and that associates of the defendants reportedly made efforts to try to influence jurors by their presence at trial. "We were convinced that wasn't going to stop these guys from being brought to justice, and it did not," Alm said.

Saya's conviction could be the basis for an appeal for a terminally ill man convicted of shooting Saya and fatally wounding Saya's girlfriend in 1993, said Honolulu attorney Myles Breiner.

Russell Cullen, serving a life sentence at Halawa for the Chinatown shootings, claimed he wasn't at the Kukui Plaza parking garage at the time of the shooting.

Yesterday's verdict suggests Saya misled the jury during Cullen's trial about his involvement with drugs and lends greater weight to Cullen's claim that Saya and his girlfriend, Carolina Ching, were shot by another person, Breiner said.