Man is indicted
for allegedly conspiring
to transport ‘ice’
A federal grand jury has indicted a Hawaii man for allegedly conspiring to transport at least 50 pounds of crystal methamphetamine in secret compartments he designed in cars shipped from the West Coast.
According to the indictment filed yesterday, Edward Moetului, also known as "Big Ed," designed storage compartments in the dashboards of cars as a way to hide multiple-pound quantities of crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," shipped from San Francisco to Honolulu.
Federal prosecutors said Moetului's indictment is part of a larger drug scheme that surfaced in May 2002, when several dozen people were indicted on Maui and Oahu.
Yesterday's indictment said Moetului's operation took place between January 2001 and April 2002. Moetului has not yet been arrested, according to U.S. Attorney Thomas Muehleck.
The indictment said Moetului's designs and compartments were used by two men, David Espinal and Mark Tagoai, who used them to ship the drugs from San Francisco to Honolulu. Espinal and Tagoai were both indicted in June 2002 for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Espinal later pleaded guilty, and Tagoai is scheduled to go to trial on Aug. 26, said Muehleck.
Muehleck would not say how many cars were used to transport drugs except that it was "less than a dozen," with at least five pounds of ice stored in each vehicle. Moetului's indictment is the most recent to "come out of a long-term FBI, Maui PD and HPD investigation," which resulted in the FBI arresting 40 people in May 2002.
The U.S. attorney's office later indicted 31 of those arrested in that case and connected the defendants to a larger drug trafficking organization that operated between the West Coast, Hawaii and the South Pacific, including former Maui police officer James Mateaki.
Mateaki admitted to obtaining confidential information from other police officers to help a man involved in the drug ring further his drug activities. He pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Feb. 3 to conspiring to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine.