An ex-teenage gang member who grew into a mentor and counselor for high-risk youth was shot and killed in March 2021 over a debt involving eight pounds of methamphetamine, according to federal court records.

Filimone Tavake was indicted by a federal grand jury March 23 for the 2021 murder of Malakai “Mo” Maumalanga.

In a motion to detain Tavake without bail, filed Thursday in federal court in San Francisco, federal prosecutors wrote that Tavake was “providing the victim methamphetamine for the victim to sell.”

Honolulu police and federal agents “located appro­ximately eight pounds of suspected methamphetamine at the victim’s residence. A portion of the suspected methamphetamine was submitted for analysis and tested positive for 452.7 grams of methamphetamine,” according to the motion.

Maumalanga was 45 years old when his family heard gunshots and found him in the carport of his Aiea home with multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body.

Maumalanga’s rehabilitation from a wayward childhood and his work with kids was a successful foundation for Adult Friends for Youth, a nonprofit focused on ensuring high-risk minors avoid a life of crime.

“A pound of methamphe­tamine sells for approximately $4,500 to $5,500 in Hawaii, accordingly the amount of methamphetamine recovered from the victim’s residence would be valued at approximately $36,000 to $44,000,” read the motion, authored by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maya Karwande. “Tavake murdered the victim after the victim failed to timely pay Tavake for methamphetamine Ta­vake provided to the victim,” Karwande wrote.

Surveillance footage from homes near Maumalanga’s residence show that at about 9:11 p.m. on March 27, 2021, a white 2019 Chevrolet Equinox with no license plates drove around in the area near his house.

The driver parked the car and two men were seen walking toward Maumalanga’s home.

At about 9:41 p.m. that night, “gunshots are heard, and the same two males are seen running” from the direction of Maumalanga’s home toward the vehicle, according to federal court documents.

“(In) a review of communications on the victim’s cell phones, investigators observed numerous calls and text messages with numbers that were eventually linked to Tavake. These messages were consistent with drug distribution and included threats to the victim if the victim did not pay money that was owed for narcotics that had been provided,” Karwande wrote.

According to the motion filed Thursday, on March 9, 2021, Tavake wrote the following text messages to Maumalanga:

>> 3:15 p.m.: They’re gettin to the no talking part because you say one thing and it don’t meet deadline

>> 3:16 p.m.: I warned you toko that there (sic) getting fed up with story

>> 5:39 p.m.: Try and get something today

The next day, Tavake sent Maumalanga a message that read, “(y)ou need to figure something out ASAP.” Maumalanga responded with an expletive.

Tavake continued to communicate with Mau­malanga, according to federal prosecutors, urging him to come up with as much money as he could. Maumalanga replied that he had about $2,000.

According to court documents, Tavake texted Maumalanga on March 23, 2021, asking if Maumalanga could get more money before he came to collect and drop off more product.

On the day he was killed, Tavake called Maumalanga six times between 7:56 p.m. and 8:26 p.m.

At 8:13 p.m. Maumalanga sent a message to Tavake stating, “my bad was working.” Fifteen minutes later, at 8:28 p.m., Maumalanga answered an incoming call from Tavake, which lasted approximately 23 seconds.

At about 9:39 p.m., about five minutes before the victim was shot and killed, the victim answered an incoming call from Tavake, which lasted approximately five seconds.

A witness told police that Tavake was the person providing methamphetamine to Maumalanga to sell and that he had met Tavake “on several occasions.” The last time the witness said he saw Maumalanga alive was at his house, with Tavake, a week before the killing.

Investigators matched data pulled from the rental car Tavake and an associate used and mobile phone data to place him near Maumalanga’s home when he was killed.

Maumalanga was a teenage member of the Cross Sun gang, which engaged in harassment, street fighting, drive-by shootings and organized crime. He was arrested for his role in a drive-by shooting when he was 18 but not convicted. He did do jail time for a state weapons charge.

As a reformed adult, he worked to keep kids away from the criminality that ended his life.

“AFY is appreciative that an indictment has been issued and while the details are alarming, out of respect to the Maumalanga family, we have no further comment or details on the case other than what was reported in the media,” said Deborah Spencer-Chun, AFY’s president and CEO, in a statement.