WAILUKU — Felony charges were upheld against two men who were arrested last month when police reported finding a loaded semiautomatic pistol and “dealer” amounts of methamphetamine in a vehicle.

Nolan Fraser, 35, was driving the black Toyota 4Runner with dark window tint and Isaac Pahulu, 24, was the passenger when the vehicle went through the McDonald’s drive-thru in Wailuku, then reversed into a handicapped stall in the parking lot the morning of May 12, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing.

“The investigation in this case showed the defendants worked together,” Deputy Prosecutor Tracy Jones said Wednesday, as the preliminary hearing concluded in Wailuku District Court.

Police were looking for Fraser because there was a $50,000 warrant for his arrest for allegedly violating his probation for second-degree theft and second-degree criminal property damage.

Fraser had said he would turn himself in a day or two before police vice officers checked his residence on Niihau Street in Kahului and saw the 4Runner pulling in May 12, officers testified.

The vehicle left the residence at 8:55 a.m. and went to McDonald’s, where Fraser got out and walked across Main Street and met with his attorney, police vice officer Korey Harris testified when the preliminary hearing for both defendants began May 24.

He said Fraser was walking back toward McDonald’s when officers made contact with him and arrested him on the warrant.

Pahulu was standing by the front passenger door of the 4Runner when, through the open passenger window, Harris said he saw a suspected marijuana cigarette butt in the ashtray and a silver-and-black pistol next to the gear shifter. He said he could smell marijuana coming from the vehicle.

A police K-9 dog alerted to the presence of drugs in the vehicle, which was impounded and towed while police applied for a warrant to search it, Harris said.

After obtaining a search warrant, police recovered the .40-caliber pistol loaded with six bullets, including one in the chamber, Harris said. He said a box containing 37 rounds of .40-caliber ammunition was in the center console.

In the cupholder were two plastic bags containing suspected crystal methamphetamine, Harris said. Another seven plastic bags of suspected crystal methamphetamine were in a backpack along with an airsoft pistol, Harris said.

He said a camouflage hooded jacket in the back passenger seat contained a glass pipe with suspected crystal methamphetamine and plastic packets holding 6.5 grams of marijuana and 16 counterfeit oxycodone pills.

The total weight of the methamphetamine seized was more than 1 ounce, Harris said.

He said the two packets of 11.1 grams and 13.9 grams in the cupholder added up to nearly an ounce. “It’s significant because it’s a fairly large amount of methamphetamine to have, and they were packaged in a way where they were ready to be broken down into smaller amounts to be distributed,” he said.

The seven packets in the backpack contained amounts ranging from less than a gram to 3.49 grams, Harris said. He said three of the packets weighed about 1.7 grams.

“Those amounts are very consistent with what you would see a dealer distributing,” he said.

Fraser and Pahulu were arrested about a block away from Hawaii Technology Academy, Harris said.

In a statement after he was transported to the police station, Pahulu claimed ownership of the backpack that was unzipped and on the front passenger floorboard, Harris said. He said the airsoft pistol looked like a real gun but was made of plastic and loaded with BBs instead of ammunition.

Messages on Pahulu’s phone showed conversations that involved others asking Pahulu for narcotics or Pahulu saying he had narcotics to distribute, Harris said.

He said an image from Fraser’s phone that was downloaded in April showed Fraser wearing the camouflage jacket that police found on the back seat.

Both defendants told police Fraser had picked up Pahulu and driven him to Fraser’s residence to use the bathroom before going to McDonald’s, Harris said. He said Fraser reported he was going to meet his girlfriend at the restaurant before she went to court.

When the officer asked about what was in the vehicle, Fraser didn’t want to speak about it, Harris said.

He said Pahulu reported his truck had broken down at a nearby gas station before he got a ride from Fraser. Surveillance video he reviewed from the gas station didn’t show a truck that was broken down, Harris said.

Police criminalist Brandi Kaoni testified all 16 blue tablets recovered looked like oxycodone. Testing on one pill found that it contained fentanyl, Kaoni said.

“There was no indication of oxycodone,” she said.

In arguing the evidence didn’t support some of the charges, Deputy Public Defender Zach Raidmae said the drugs in the backpack claimed by Pahulu had to be added to the drugs found in the cupholder to total more than an ounce to support a charge against both men.

There was no evidence Fraser was selling drugs and no empty packets or measuring devices indicating drugs were being sold, Raidmae said.

“There’s just drugs,” he said. “There has to be more.”

Defense attorney Christina Lizzi said Pahulu “was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“He has admitted to having a crystal meth problem, but that doesn’t make him guilty of any of those offenses,” she said. “He was not aware of what was in a jacket in the back seat or in the console. He was not aware of all the contents in the vehicle that added up to over an ounce of methamphetamine.”

Jones disputed that, saying the gun and drugs were within reach of both defendants in the vehicle.

“He’s not an innocent ride-catcher who needed to go to the bathroom,” Jones said. “He was in association with another drug dealer.”

Judge Kirstin Hamman found there was sufficient evidence presented during the three days of testimony to support the felony charges against Fraser and Pahulu.

They are each charged with possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony drug offense, carrying a loaded firearm on a public highway, first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, attempted first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, second-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, two counts of possessing drug paraphernalia, third-degree promotion of a detrimental drug and promoting a controlled substance near a school.

In addition, Fraser is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, being a felon in possession of ammunition, two counts of third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, three counts of possessing drug paraphernalia and two counts of third-degree promotion of a detrimental drug.

After previously having his bail reduced from $500,000 to $250,000, Pahulu asked for an additional reduction Wednesday.

Judge Hamman kept bail at $250,000 for Pahulu and $500,000 for Fraser, who were being held at the Maui Community Correctional Center.

“The court is concerned about the amount of drugs and the gun being in the car and the safety of the community,” she said.

Fraser and Pahulu are scheduled to be arraigned June 16 in 2nd Circuit Court.

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.