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A federal jury in Honolulu found a California man guilty Wednesday of shipping 28 pounds of methamphetamine to Hawaii by hiding the drug in the drive shafts of two vehicles.
Ramiro Hernandez, 37, faces a maximum life prison term, with a mandatory 10-year minimum, when a federal judge sentences him in May.
The jury found that Hernandez shipped one vehicle containing 14 pounds of methamphetamine to Hilo in March 2006 and a second vehicle containing another 14 pounds of the drug to Honolulu in July 2006.
This was Hernandez’s second trial. Another jury was unable to reach unanimous verdicts on a conspiracy and two drug possession charges in August 2008.
That same 2008 jury, however, did find John Gouveia Jr., 36, of Honolulu, guilty of conspiracy and drug possession.
Gouveia is serving a 24-year, four-month term.
A third defendant, Jose Perez, 24, Hernandez’s half brother, had already pleaded guilty.
A federal judge sentenced him in April 2007 to a five-year, 10-month term.