Methamphetamine Trafficker Admits False Accusations And Receives Over 14 Years In Prison

HONOLULU – Chief United States District Judge Susan Oki Mollway sentenced Malia Arciero, age 34, a Honolulu resident, yesterday to 172 months (14 years, four months) imprisonment for four counts of knowing and intentional distribution of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. A federal jury found Arciero guilty of those charges on January 8, 2015.

Florence T. Nakakuni, United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said that Chief Judge Mollway found that Arciero’s accusations of criminal misconduct against the lead federal criminal investigator in the case during the criminal litigation constituted obstruction of justice and were attempts to manipulate the judicial proceedings toward a disposition favorable to her. On the eve of this sentencing, Arciero filed a sworn declaration that the prior assertions she made about the agent’s misconduct in the criminal litigation were unsubstantiated and without any basis. She also filed a dismissal of a state civil lawsuit against the agent containing similar allegations.

According to the information produced to the court, Arciero was arrested on April 30, 2013, as she was transporting a pound of methamphetamine to a person cooperating with law enforcement. After her arrest, Arciero confessed to transporting the methamphetamine and previously distributing multi-pound quantities of methamphetamine.

The case resulted from an investigation by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Beverly Wee Sameshima is handling the prosecution, while former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Kawahara conducted the prosecution through trial.