Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to hold a Waikoloa man without bail after he was arrested for allegedly using a channel on the Telegram messaging app to sell fentanyl to undercover Hawaii police officers working with federal agents.
Luka Kekoa Mossman, 29, aka the “Hawaiian Pharmacy,” is charged with a single count of distribution of fentanyl, according to a complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court.
He was arrested Thursday in Honolulu with 250 “M30” pills, which tested positive for fentanyl; a loaded .380 Ruger pistol; and an Ohio driver’ s license containing Mossman’s photograph but a fictitious name, according to prosecutors.
Mossman made his initial appearance in the federal fentanyl case Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth J. Mansfield. He is in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu ahead of his detention hearing Aug. 3 at 10:30 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rom A. Trader. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Aug. 14 in Trader’s court.
Mossman was indicted by a Hawaii grand jury in 2018 for allegedly threatening two men in April 2016 with a loaded AK-47 assault rifle.
He was indicted Jan. 22, 2018, with first-degree terroristic threatening and
various firearm charges, according to state court records. His bail was set at $25,000 and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest in that case. No further action has happened in that case, according to the state Judiciary Information Management System.
Mossman’s attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Jacquelyn T. Esser, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne A. Myers, who is prosecuting the case, declined comment.
Earlier this year, law enforcement opened an investigation into Mossman “related to, among other things, his use of the Telegram channel ‘Hawaiian Pharmacy’ to distribute fentanyl,” according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.
Telegram is a cloud-based messaging application that allows users to send and access encrypted messages on multiple devices at once. According to the company’s website, Telegram counts more than 700 million monthly active users. Telegram channels such as the one Mossman allegedly used allow broadcasting to unlimited audiences.
Hawaii police and a Homeland Security Investigations special agent engaged in a series of conversations with Mossman to gather evidence about his illegal drug sales, according to prosecutors. On May 25 an undercover law enforcement officer contacted Mossman via Telegram to set up the purchase of 500 fentanyl pills for $2,500.
That same day, the undercover officer sent $2,500 to a Western Union account specified by Mossman for the fentanyl pills. The officer sent a copy of the receipt to Mossman, who sent back a screenshot of the shipping label, according to the complaint.
The next day, Mossman told the officer he had sent the package containing the fentanyl pills. On May 31 law enforcement recovered the package at the specified address and determined it contained 500 “M30” pills, which tested positive for fentanyl.
The undercover officer used a video chat feature on Telegram to let Mossman know he got the pills.
In response to a question from Mossman about whether the package was received, the officer showed via video chat the package containing the fentanyl pills to Mossman, who replied, “rajah.”
