A local entertainer who preached anti-drug messages in his music will spend the next 14 years in federal prison for possessing 50 pounds of methamphetamine.

U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor sentenced Joe Daniels to 170 months in prison yesterday for possessing and conspiring to distribute one of the largest quantities of methamphetamine seized in Hawaii history.

Daniels, 34, is known as J.D., half of the local reggae/hip-hop group Big Every Time, or B.E.T.

Friends and relatives wept as Gillmor ordered U.S. marshals to take Daniels into custody. Daniels wailed during the sentencing.

Gillmor sentenced two other men to 185 months in prison each for their roles in the case.

She sentenced Junior Auelua, 44, Thursday and Lauolefiso Afo, 36, Daniels' cousin, yesterday.

Daniels had asked Gillmor for a break in sentencing because he said he received the drugs in two FedEx boxes at his Royal Kunia apartment last February on behalf of Afo. He said he knew there were drugs in the parcels but did not know how much drugs. He said he was not involved in drug distribution.

Daniels said he pleaded guilty to drug possession and conspiracy charges in September because he knew Afo was trafficking drugs, and he allowed him to do so from his apartment. He said he did not profit from Afo's drug dealing except for the rent he charged his cousin for using one of the apartment's bedrooms.

Gillmor said she did not believe Daniels and noted Daniels' hypocrisy for preaching anti-drug messages while trafficking drugs. She said allowing Afo to traffic drugs from his home for fear of offending him makes Daniels a danger to the community.

And she noted the quantity of drugs involved.

“;This is a huge crime. This is a huge amount of drugs. We normally see a fraction of that,”; Gillmor said. “;I can't even think of the number of people who will be damaged by that amount of drugs.”;

Gillmor denied Daniels' request to remain free on bail and turn himself in at a later date so he could arrange a commercial flight to a prison hospital on the mainland.

His lawyer said Daniels suffers from an enlarged heart, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, sleep apnea and obesity. He said a commercial flight will afford Daniels greater access to medical attention.

The government noted that Drug Enforcement Administration agents saw Daniels carry the parcels from his car in the parking lot and up some stairs to his second-floor apartment.