A man who left the country after Maui police seized more than 1,000 marijuana plants from his rented Makawao home was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to three years in prison.
Erik Welander, 41, has already served more than a third of his sentence because he has been in federal custody since April 2013, when Costa Rican officials turned him over to U.S. marshals.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Thomas said U.S. officials located Welander in Costa Rica through Facebook.
"He certainly didn’t tell us where he was," Thomas said. "Neither did his family."
Maui police arrested and charged Welander in July 2009 after seizing 1,197 marijuana plants from his five-bedroom Piiholo Road home, plus 35 more plants from the backyard and an outdoor deck. They also seized a loaded shotgun, ammunition, psilocybin or "magic" mushrooms, hashish and $458 in cash.
Police also found in the home equipment commonly used to cultivate marijuana plants indoors, including fluorescent and high-pressure sodium "grow lights," fans, timer systems and temperature gauges.
They released Welander after he posted $145,000 bail.
Maui County authorities turned the case over to the U.S. attorney, and in February 2010 a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Welander.
By then, however, Welander was already out of the country.
Thomas said Welander fled Hawaii in August 2009 for El Salvador, then later went to Costa Rica.
Costa Rican officials detained Welander for a few months last year before turning him over to American authorities.
U.S. District Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway said Welander may have evaded law enforcement when he left the country in 2009 but that she cannot conclude that he fled because he hadn’t yet been indicted.
In a deal with the prosecutor in February, Welander pleaded guilty to an amended charge of manufacturing and possessing marijuana to distribute.
His original charges, which specified that he manufactured and possessed 1,000 or more marijuana plants, called for a mandatory minimum 10-year prison term.
