Drug and firearm
fugitive guilty

An Oahu man found in Idaho
admits to police evidence

A Hawaii fugitive who eluded law enforcement for nearly six years until he was caught in Idaho last summer has pleaded guilty to federal firearm and drug charges stemming from indictments here and in Las Vegas.

Reinier L.K. Kraan, formerly of Kaneohe, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Alan Kay yesterday to attempted possession with intent to distribute 4.65 pounds of methamphetamine, two counts of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, manufacture of marijuana and possession of false identification.

He faces between 10 years and life for the methamphetamine charge when sentenced Jan. 23.

In July 1998, Kraan went to Pearlridge Center, where an associate cooperating with law enforcement had arranged to deliver the parcel of methamphetamine, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Kawahara.

But when the associate entered Kraan's van, Kraan took off. The associate managed to jump out, and the parcel was also thrown out.

Kraan led police on a high-speed chase up to the Pearl Country Club and back down to the H-1 and up Likelike Highway. Police eventually had to end their pursuit because he was driving recklessly, hitting speeds of 100 mph, Kawahara said.

Kraan's van was later found abandoned on Kamehameha Highway near Waiahole Valley, about two miles from a Kaneohe residence where he lived. Kraan was nowhere to be found.

After securing a search warrant, law enforcement searched the Mapele Way home and uncovered a cache of 45 firearms and ammunition in a locked gun safe, Kawahara said.

Kraan had been convicted previously in state court in the mid- to late 1990s for first-degree burglary and a firearms offense, and was not supposed to own or possess firearms.

It was not until 2003 that the Hawaii Fugitive Task Force, made up of local and federal law enforcement, tracked Kraan to California and eventually to Las Vegas, where he was believed to have been living for two years. Last July, just two days after they began staking out the Las Vegas home, Kraan was arrested in Idaho, where he was using the name Robert Charles Stanley, Kawahara said.

A storage locker rented under that name in Las Vegas yielded a California ID card and Social Security card in Stanley's name, with Kraan's photo. Also found in the locker were three firearms and photos of Kraan with growing marijuana plants behind him, Kawahara said.

When law enforcement searched Kraan's Las Vegas home, they found an indoor marijuana-growing operation, 965 marijuana plants in various stages of growth and papers addressed to Stanley.

Kraan yesterday admitted that the evidence presented by prosecutors was true. He also agreed to the quantities and amount of methamphetamine and marijuana charged in the three separate indictments.