Two men are facing federal charges for allegedly selling cocaine, ecstasy, magic mushrooms and other drugs out of vending machines in a Honolulu after- hours club and in a fake health and wellness store.
At least three overdoses, one of them fatal, were reported in the past 13 months at the Aether, a popular nightclub on Waiakamilo Road. The club is known for electronic music, and according to its website stars from Spain, Thailand and the U.S. — AFFKT, SoundSex, Jordan Strong, Chaddy Daddy and Higher Concept — have spun sets there.
In a criminal complaint filed Monday, Marc C. Goto, 52, and Frankie Nguyen, 32, were charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute psilocybin (magic mushrooms), MDMA (ecstasy) and ketamine.
Agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Honolulu police officers seized ledgers and more than $200,000 from Goto’s residence.
Goto allegedly told investigators that he and Nguyen ran the drug distribution businesses, according to federal court documents.
Building, office leased
The pair allegedly used a building Goto is leasing at 531 Waikamilo Road and another at 1388 Colburn St. as marketplaces for illegal drugs in a nightclub known as Aether, Club Aether and Aether Afterhours, according to the complaint.
Goto is also leasing an office at 736 South St., Suite 102, that has signs out front for “Aether Health and Wellness, Inc.”
Goto and Nguyen made their initial court appearance Tuesday.
Goto’s attorney, federal Public Defender Salina M. Kanai, and Nguyen’s attorney, Louis Michael Ching, did not immediately reply to Honolulu Star-Advertiser requests for comment. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aislinn K. Affinito is prosecuting the case.
The DEA accuses Goto and Nguyen of using properties for “distributing controlled substances via vending machines and hand-to-hand transactions.”
The DEA said it learned from an interview with convicted drug dealer Matthew McBraun in November 2022 that he sold a colleague looking for cocaine a bag of fentanyl by mistake. Four nightclub employees who overdosed on the drugs in the bag were hospitalized but survived.
A federal jury convicted McBraun of selling fentanyl and heroin, and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, according to federal court records.
Coded entry
McBraun told DEA agents that there was a back room at the club “that customers have access to via a keypad code that they get from staff,” according to the complaint. In that room there is “a vending machine that dispenses bags of cocaine marked with a slash mark, and bags of Ketamine that are marked with a ‘K.’”
At about 3:15 a.m. Feb. 11, two undercover HPD officers approached a door to a room. “The door was locked with an entry code pad,” the complaint states. An unknown Caucasian male verbally gave the code, and the officers entered the room and saw two vending machines dispensing illegal narcotics, “with a menu displaying ‘XTC,’ ‘Molly,’ and ‘K’ for sale, along with THC infused candies,” according to the complaint.
Officers allegedly saw Nguyen fixing a vending machine they tried to use while an unknown male sold them three pills of “Molly” for $40.
On April 9 the Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu Fire Department and city Emergency Medical Serv-ices technicians responded to a fatal overdose at the nightclub.
First responders observed “several used packs of naloxone near the victim, a drug used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.”
EMTs were unable to identify a witness to the overdose or the drugs consumed by the victim. Body-worn camera footage from police shows that Goto and Nguyen were there but didn’t give a statement.
The Department of the Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death as “drug death-acute intoxication.” The toxicology report shows fentanyl, xylazine, cocaine and MDMA in the victim’s system, and all “were considered a contributing factor in the victim’s death.”
On Aug. 26 two undercover DEA agents walked into the nightclub and saw Nguyen working as an employee and sitting behind a table on the second floor.
At about 4:30 a.m. “a club patron informed the (undercover officers) that there was a door at the top of the stairs on the other side of the club” and “instructed the (officers) to knock on the door to be let in to conduct a purchase.”
A woman took the undercover officers up to the door, where she knocked. The door was marked with an “Employees Only” sign, and there was a light from a security camera that was turned on after the knock. “The (officers) believe someone was viewing the camera to see who was knocking,” according to the complaint.
The officers allegedly bought $100 worth of ketamine and left.
Wellness shop
The complaint also outlines evidence allegedly found at Goto’s wellness shop.
On March 24 an HPD informant provided logs of the foot traffic going into Aether Health and Wellness, which was incorporated on Dec. 15, 2020.
“The source believed that the business was distributing drugs due to constant foot traffic at all hours of the day, including overnight,” according to the complaint. “The logs provide photographs and videos of unidentified persons and vehicles with detailed dates and times. Over the three-week period prior to March 24, the source observed 68 different vehicles park in front of the business.”
A DEA review of “stationary surveillance footage corroborates the foot traffic” alleged by the HPD source in March 2023 and DEA and HPD’s physical surveillance. All cars, at all times of day or night, would leave after 10 minutes.
On Dec. 1 at 11 p.m., DEA and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents executed search warrants at the nightclub and wellness shop while watching Goto’s residence.
DEA agents allegedly took ketamine, ecstasy and MDMA, “among other things, packaged for distribution and stored in a vending machine,” at the nightclub.
Drug menu
Law enforcement recovered from the business building a couple of packages of substances suspected to be “drugs contained in a vending machine, alongside a menu identifying various drugs including Ketamine, ‘shrooms’ (psilocybin), Adderall, Xanax, ‘molly’ (MDMA), and ecstasy, among other things.”
On Dec. 2 at about 1:08 a.m., DEA agents allegedly watched Goto load several “bags and boxes of items from the house into his vehicle.”
Nguyen was pulled over five minutes later after leaving Goto’s house and was allegedly found with ketamine powder.
Nguyen reportedly agreed to talk to agents and officers without a lawyer. He allegedly said another person was giving him drugs to fill the machines at the nightclub.
At about 1:15 a.m., DEA agents stopped and searched Goto and his car.
They allegedly found psilocybin mushrooms, baggies of suspected ketamine and a large amount of cartons with “DMT” written on the outside. “DMT” is a hallucinogenic and psychedelic drug.
Goto reportedly agreed to talk without a lawyer and allegedly told agents and officers he knew about the “vending machine that had THC products but did not know about the vending machine that had other illicit drugs.” He allegedly admitted he and Goto run drugs out of the nightclub and wellness store.
