Posted on 08/17/2002 9:12:21 PM PDT by Vidalia
WAILUKU — A package of crystal methamphetamine, several empty plastic packets and $1,551 cash added up to evidence of attempted drug dealing by a Kihei man, who was convicted of that and other charges.
Reynaldo Ugalino, 38, was taken into custody when his bail was doubled to $250,000 after the 2nd Circuit Court jury returned the guilty verdicts Thursday afternoon.
He faces a 20-year prison term as well as a mandatory minimum sentence on the most serious charge of attempted first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug.
“This verdict sends a strong message to drug dealers in this community that the County of Maui has no tolerance for drug dealers,” said Deputy Prosecutor William Sloper. “We’re going to do everything we can to make sure drug dealers are convicted in our community.”
But Deputy Public Defender Jon Apo said Ugalino would challenge the validity of the attempted drug dealing charge and ask a judge to dismiss it during a court hearing scheduled for next week. Ugalino plans to appeal his conviction, Apo said.
Ugalino was arrested Sept. 28, 2001, when three Kihei patrol officers went to his residence on Keala Street to arrest his 23-year-old girlfriend, Danae Carter, on drug warrants totaling $200,000.
Then-officer Dana Wingad, now an Army staff sergeant at Schofield Barracks on Oahu, testified he saw Ugalino and two other males in the garage of the home. Ugalino appeared to be hiding something behind his back in his right hand while he raised his left hand in the air, Wingad said. He refused to comply when the officer asked him and the others to leave the garage.
“I was worried about my safety and my fellow officers’ safety,” said Wingad, who drew his gun and pointed it at the men in the garage. “It’s a bad situation that could have got real ugly real fast.”
After officers had arrested and handcuffed Carter, who had been in the house with another male, Wingad said he saw Ugalino put his right hand in his right pants pocket, then raise both hands in the air.
Officer Brad Hickle tried to search for possible weapons on Ugalino, who would turn away when Hickle tried to pat down the man’s right side, Wingad said.
He said he entered the garage and grabbed Ugalino’s left hand. “He starts swinging his arms and hips,” Wingad said.
After finally managing to get Ugalino out of the garage, Wingad said Ugalino continued the swinging motion before kicking the officer in the left shin.
When Wingad told Ugalino he was under arrest for assaulting a police officer, the suspect tried to jump over a Jeep trailer. Wingad said he placed Ugalino in a neck restraint so he could handcuff the 5-foot-4, 130-pound man who was “overwhelmingly strong” despite his smaller size.
In Ugalino’s right front pocket, Wingad found $1,551 cash, a Ziploc bag containing 17.7 grams of crystal methamphetamine and eight empty small plastic bags with a pink cheetah symbol. He also recovered from the pocket a butane lighter, two small Ziploc bags with drug residue and a piece of paper with a sharp point.
That type of paper or a cut straw is often used to transfer drugs into smaller bags or into a smoking pipe, Wingad said.
In the garage, he said he found a glass smoking pipe on a table as well as household chemicals that are used in the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine.
During closing arguments to jurors Wednesday, Apo said the evidence showed Ugalino was a drug user. But he said there was a lack of evidence to prove Ugalino was a drug dealer.
He said the chemicals had legitimate uses in the heavy-duty garage and noted that officers didn’t find a scale — “the hallmark evidence of a drug dealer.”
But Sloper argued the items seized were evidence that Ugalino intended to sell the drugs.
“Drug users spend their money on the drugs and then they have drugs and they use the drugs,” Sloper said. “People that distribute drugs have both the methamphetamine and the cash.”
Ugalino was also convicted of second-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, possessing drug paraphernalia, assault against a police officer and resisting arrest.
Had he not been convicted of attempting to sell drugs, Ugalino could have been sentenced to probation and drug treatment under a new state law that applies to first-time drug offenders, Apo said.
Ugalino is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 16 by Judge Joel August, who presided over the trial that began Monday.
Carter is awaiting trial on drug charges in separate cases.
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