Bar hostess sentenced for selling stolen pistol

A former Keeaumoku Street bar hostess who set up a customer to be robbed in the bar’s parking lot is going to jail for four months for selling the customer’s loaded handgun stolen in the robbery.

A federal judge sentenced Jodi Rementer to the jail term Monday for receiving and selling a stolen firearm and ammunition. She has not been charged with the robbery.

Rementer, 23, was working at Club Tomorrow I under the name “Lexi” on April 16, 2009, when she escorted her customer into the parking lot where two males attacked him and stole his fanny pack. Rementer fled after telling the customer she was going to her car. Her lawyer said Rementer was 20 years old at the time, below the legal age for working in an establishment that sells liquor.

The customer turned out to be an off-duty state narcotics enforcement officer. His fanny pack contained his badge, handcuffs and service weapon.

Thirty minutes after the robbery, Rementer contacted a friend about selling the firearm, a Glock 27, .40-caliber pistol loaded with 10 rounds of ammunition.

The friend turned out to be a police informant.

The next day the friend showed up to meet Rementer with an undercover officer posing as a prospective buyer for the gun.

The officer said he paid Rementer $300 for the firearm. He also said Rementer told him she threw away the badge and handcuffs and laughed when she told him how she got the weapon.

U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway told Rementer she is lucky it was an undercover police officer who bought the gun and not a criminal who may have used it to harm someone.

The four-month prison term is well below the statutory maximum 10-year term and less than the 10 to 16 months suggested by federal court advisory sentencing guidelines.

Mollway told Rementer she gave her a break in large part because of her situation and suggested she would have given her a bigger break if Rementer had been more forthcoming about what happened.

Rementer said she was in an abusive relationship at the time and planned the robbery to get money to flee from her boyfriend. She also has a 6-year-old son.

Her lawyer, William Domingo, said Rementer has turned her life around, obtained a real estate license, works two jobs and plans to continue her education.

She pleaded guilty but denied laughing when telling the undercover police officer about the robbery. She also said the officer paid her only $200.

After completing her jail term, Rementer will be under court supervision for three years — the first six months of which she will be under electronically monitored home detention.

The two males who committed the robbery have not been prosecuted.