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A 65-year-old man was found guilty Thursday by a state jury of selling crystal methamphetamine, or “ice,” at Kailua Beach Park.
Sidney Presnall, who has no local address, was found guilty of three counts of second-degree methamphetamine trafficking, according to the Honolulu prosecutor’s office.
Police arrested Presnall after conducting an undercover operation in response to community complaints about a man selling drugs at Kailua Beach Park, the office said.
Second-degree meth trafficking is a Class B felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
Presnall will be sentenced Nov. 4.
Jury declares defendant guilty of rape
A 38-year-old man was found guilty Wednesday of raping a Canadian woman last year in the bushes along Kalanianaole Highway in Waimanalo.
Aaron Kaehu, a career criminal with 44 arrests and 22 convictions, was found guilty of first-degree sexual assault after the jury deliberated for less than an hour, the Honolulu prosecutor’s office said in a news release.
According to prosecutors, Kaehu approached a woman walking along Kalanianaole Highway in September 2014 and struck up a conversation. He then forced her into bushes near the beach, threatened to beat her with a rock and raped her, prosecutors said.
Kaehu faces a 20-year prison term when he is sentenced Dec. 9.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Council allows $50K for lawyer
The Kauai County Council on Wednesday agreed to spend up to $50,000 for an attorney to represent a police officer accused of fatally hitting with his vehicle a 19-year-old man who was lying in the road after being struck by another vehicle.
Officer Irvin Magayanes was charged with negligent homicide in connection with the death of Michael Kocher Jr. On the night of Jan. 3, Kocher was walking on Kaumualii Highway near the Kaumakani Post Office when he was struck by a Toyota Corolla.
The driver stopped at the scene, and Kocher was lying alive on the roadway when Magayanes, responding to the traffic accident, allegedly fatally hit Kocher with his vehicle.
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