A former Halawa prison guard faces up to 50 years in prison and more than $5 million in fines after pleading guilty Tuesday to charges related to smuggling methamphetamine into the prison and bribery.
James Sanders III, 31, was captured on video and audio recordings giving an ounce of meth to a confidential informant working for the government on Nov. 15, according to testimony Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
"I distributed meth to the CI, and then, on Nov. 22, I took $5,000 to smuggle things into Halawa," Sanders told Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren during his hearing to change his plea from not guilty.
Sanders pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly or intentionally distributing five grams or more of methamphetamine and one count of bribery.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael David Nammar said in court that two weeks after Sanders was captured dealing meth on video, the informant gave tobacco packages to Sanders that the prison guard believed contained meth and $5,000 to smuggle that meth into the prison. Sanders also sold two ounces of meth to the informant for $3,200 the same day, Nammar said.
Sanders will be sentenced by Senior District Judge Helen Gillmor on June 26. He must serve at least five years in prison for the drug count but faces up to 40 years in prison, a $5 million fine and supervised release for life. For the bribery charge he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Sanders, of Kailua, was hired as an adult corrections officer in January 2012 and resigned Feb. 5.
He was arrested at Halawa prison Jan. 12 and released to his grandmother on a $50,000 unsecured bond with the condition that he wear a GPS monitoring device. On Tuesday, Kurren allowed Sanders to remove the device.
Sanders was one of two guards arrested in January for allegedly smuggling drugs into prison.
Mark Damas of Wahiawa was arrested at Halawa on Jan. 26 and charged with drug and bribery offenses. He is suspected of accepting payments for distributing drugs and other contraband to Halawa prisoners.
Damas, who pleaded not guilty in February, is scheduled to go to trial April 15.
