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WAILUKU -- More than 2 and a half pounds of drugs were seized from a Kula man's pockets and the trunk of his car when police executed search warrants last week in a Kahului parking lot, a vice officer testified Thursday.
The drugs included nearly 700 grams of methamphetamine, nearly 156 grams of heroin and nearly 321 grams of marijuana, officer Paul Feagai said at a preliminary hearing in Wailuku District Court for Lewellyn Iokepa Foster, 58.
When Deputy Prosecutor Peter Hanano asked whether those quantities of methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana were consistent with dealer quantities of the drugs, Feagai said yes.
He said he was assigned to execute search warrants for Foster, his residence, his vehicle and cellphone April 8 when Foster was located at 4:10 p.m. while driving the car in the parking lot of Walmart in Kahului.
Foster parked the silver Chevrolet Impala four-door sedan near the garden entrance and the driver's door was partially open when the officer said he made contact with Foster.
In pockets of a jeans jacket that Foster was wearing, Feagai reported recovering a glass smoking pipe with suspected methamphetamine, a plastic packet containing suspected methamphetamine and a wallet containing $1,963 in cash.
A marijuana joint was found in the center console, and two plastic packets containing suspected methamphetamine were found in a woman's wallet in the car, Feagai said.
He said other drugs were found in various backpacks and bags in the trunk.
Police also found a torch lighter, straw loader and digital scale in one backpack, Feagai said.
He said a 21-year-old woman, who was in the front passenger seat of the car and gave no local address, was detained along with Foster and later released pending further investigation.
Under cross-examination by Deputy Public Defender Ben Lowenthal, Feagai acknowledged that the woman admitted that some of the methamphetamine seized belonged to her.
When Hanano asked if the woman was specific about what drugs belonged to her, Feagai said she mentioned that the two small packets of suspected methamphetamine in her wallet were hers, "however, it was given to her by the defendant."
The two packets contained 3.85 grams of methamphetamine, compared to the 28 grams of methamphetamine found in the search of Foster.
Parole officer Emerson Ramelb testified Foster had been paroled on Sept. 9, 2020, after serving most of a 20-year prison term for attempted manslaughter. The prison term ends May 9, Ramelb said.
In April 2003, Foster was sentenced to prison terms for attempted manslaughter, as well as first-degree terroristic threatening, first-degree criminal property damage, multiple firearm offenses and unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle in four criminal cases. In the attempted manslaughter case, Foster was being sought for violating his parole when he rammed his vehicle into a police vehicle during a pursuit in 2002, according to police.
For the hearing Thursday, Foster agreed to appear by videoconference from the Maui Community Correctional Center, where he was being held in lieu of cash-only bail of $500,000.
Judge Lauren Akitake found that the prosecution had shown probable cause for all the charges -- two counts of first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, second-degree promotion of a detrimental drug and three counts of possessing drug paraphernalia.
Based on his criminal record, Foster could face sentencing as a repeat and persistent offender if he is convicted of the first-degree drug charges, Hanano said.
Foster is set to be arraigned April 27 in 2nd Circuit Court.
* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.