Officials Initiate Criminal Deterrent

[Herb Fellow]

WAILUKU – With a goal of deterring crime, the Maui County prosecutor’s office has initiated forfeiture proceedings for three Maui properties where police reported finding marijuana-growing operations in recent months.

The petitions, filed Tuesday in 2nd

Circuit Court, cite a state law saying property is subject to forfeiture when it is used in the commission of certain crimes, including felony marijuana cultivation.

“We have decided to start using the law to try and win our fight against crime,” said county Prosecuting Attorney Benjamin Acob. “It will be used in drug cases, gambling cases and in any other case that’s authorized by the statute.”

He said the prosecutor’s office is seeking a type of lien against the properties so the state would receive proceeds if the properties were sold in the future.

“We’re not going to actually take control of the property,” Acob said.

When there’s more than one owner, only those involved would be affected, he said.

The properties targeted in the three petitions include a parcel of more than 2 acres on Door of Faith Road in Huelo, where police responded to a shooting the night of Sept. 25.

Police said a 29-year-old man was shot by a resident after going to the home with two 17-year-old boys to steal property. After shooting the intruder, the resident was beaten with a statue, police said. Both men were hospitalized.

A police detective obtained permission to search the residence of Donald Regalmuto on the property, discovering two rooms that had been converted into indoor marijuana-growing operations, according to documents filed in the forfeiture case.

Police recovered 107 marijuana plants with root systems, 72 marijuana clones without root systems, 115 black plastic pots and two black plastic seedling trays, according to the documents.

A separate forfeiture petition was filed for a parcel of more than 2 acres on Laniloa Way in Haiku. During an Oct. 5, 2006, police raid targeting resident Michael Covich, 706 marijuana plants ranging from 1 inch to 6 feet tall were found in the residence “as part of an elaborate multistaged indoor growing operation,” according to court documents.

Also seized in the investigation by police and federal agents were 3 pounds of processed marijuana and drug paraphernalia, including 33 growing light systems, 45 electrical ballasts, 476 plastic growing pots, seven plant cloning trays, 21 fans, 19 electrical timers, 10 metal light system rails, two water pumps, two dehumidifiers, an electrical breaker box, electrical fittings, reflective insulation, electrical wires, and books and publications for cultivating marijuana plants, the documents say.

A man who was at the property during the search later “admitted to being a worker in the indoor marijuana-growing operation, in which he tended, watered and fertilized the marijuana plants,” according to court documents. The man reportedly said he worked for and was paid by Covich.

A third forfeiture petition was filed for a 9,600-square-foot parcel on Makawao Avenue, where police found 187 marijuana plants – ranging from seedlings to 2-foot-tall plants – in an outside hothouse on April 8, according to a summary of facts filed in court.

After going to the home while investigating the theft of a motorcycle helmet, a police officer found resident Galen Vares beating a small dog with a large stick, the summary says. Confronted by the officer, Vares ran into the residence and refused to leave before Vares’ minor son told police they could search the home for Vares, the document says.

Police officers reported they couldn’t find Vares but did find the marijuana plants.

The boy, who was arrested for the motorcycle helmet theft, reportedly admitted that the plants were his, except for 10 to 15 smaller plants that belonged to Vares. The boy said he grew the marijuana, then sold it after it was dried, according to the court document.

A search of state and federal court records Friday showed no pending criminal cases against Regalmuto, Covich or Vares.

While forfeiture proceedings aren’t criminal, “it’s directly related to the criminal case because we’re looking at the evidence,” Acob said. “That could be money used in the criminal activities or anything that would have aided in the commission of the offense. It could be a residence if the offense was being committed in the residence or it could be a car if drug sales were made out of a car.”

Acob said he knows of at least one prior forfeiture petition that was filed by the Maui County prosecutor’s office in a gambling case years ago. But the prosecutor’s office hasn’t used the law often, he said.

“We started to look at this because it’s a further deterrence,” Acob said. “Although it was available in the past, it seems like we need it more than ever now. So we’re going to try to use it, and hopefully this will have a big impact on the commission of crimes.”

Source: Maui News
Copyright: 2007 Maui News
Contact: Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.
Website: Maui News | Officials initiate criminal deterrent