2 alleged drug gang members held without bail

Two men arrested for their alleged roles in a road rage incident and suspected work for a drug trafficking organization being run out of homes and businesses on the West side, were ordered held without bail.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Wes Reber Porter granted the U.S. Department of Justice’s motion Thursday to hold the pair of convicted felons without bail ahead of a preliminary hearing June 20 at 10:30 a.m. in Reber Porter’s court.

Sheysten James Ikaika Joseph, 22, was arrested by a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent on suspicion of being a felon in possession of ammunition in connection with an April 9 road rage incident near Ko Olina where Joseph was the passenger in a car driven by Seth Zachary Owens, 22, who allegedly pointed a ghost gun at a woman and her three children.

Brenon Kilinoe Joseph Nash, 32, was arrested with Joseph.

Nash was charged with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and being a felon in possession of a firearm after federal agents allegedly found two guns, cannabis and a pound of methamphetamine in a car registered to Nash.

Both Joseph and Nash are on state probation in connection with a Nov. 20, 2019, fight that led to the shooting of 39-year-old Micaiah McCullah, a father of seven and a football coach, who was killed during the melee.

They were originally charged with second-­degree attempted murder for allegedly firing handguns at another man during the early-­evening beef at a park on Manuku Street.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael F. Albanese, who is prosecuting the case for the government, declined comment. Joseph’s attorney, Rustam A. Barbee, and Nash’s attorney, Neal J. Kugiya, did not immediately reply to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser request for comment.

Joseph and Nash are caught up in an investigation by the DEA, Homeland Security Investigations and Honolulu police into a drug trafficking organization that resulted in searches in April at the home and affiliated businesses of a Waianae family that is one of the targets of the investigation.

At a community meeting on crime in Maili on Wednesday, Sabrina Grace-Dereis, who claimed she was a former federal informant, gave binders to HPD Narcotics/Vice Major Mike Lambert, City Council member Andria Tupola and Hono­lulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm that contained pictures of the man whose property was searched by police and federal agents, his alleged friends and a business that is allegedly a front used to launder revenue from the sale of illegal narcotics.