2 Kauai women, suspected ‘ice’ traffickers, get 25, 30 years in prison

LIHUE » Two Kauai women, alleged to be methamphetamine traffickers, have been sentenced to 25 and 30 years in jail after pleading guilty to numerous drug charges.

Sunday-Lee Namuo, 35, received a total of 30 years in prison for eight drug and paraphernalia charges; her partner, Marilyn Prem, 38, received 25 years total for five drug and paraphernalia charges in court proceedings last week.

The two had pleaded guilty to first-degree promotion of methamphetamine in December 2005 and then pleaded guilty to the rest of the charges yesterday.

Prosecutors agreed to drop a number of charges, including those from a 2005 incident where the two women claim their civil rights were violated.

Prem and Namuo were first arrested on the current drug charges in July 2003, when a search warrant of a room at a Wailua hotel and a rental car revealed cocaine and methamphetamine.

While out on bail for that case, prosecutors said, Prem was arrested at Wal-Mart for shoplifting, and cops used another search warrant on her bag and the house she shared with Namuo to confiscate 1.5 ounces of methamphetamine.

After another search warrant on their home in April 2005, police arrested the two women again and found two ounces of methamphetamine and over $17,000 in cash.

Prosecutors also said Prem made a statement to police after one of her arrests in which she admitted to flying to Oahu about three times a month and bringing back between 6 and 10 ounces of crystal methamphetamine at a time.

After that statement, and while returning from a trip to Oahu in 2005, Prem and Namuo were strip-searched by female officers at KPD headquarters.

According to the claim made against the county, the two say their civil rights were violated when the officers took pictures of them in various stages of undress as they looked for drugs.

Police officials say the vice officers involved were just following procedure and do the same with male prisoners. No drugs were found.