Former Halawa prison guard sentenced to 4 years in prison

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HONOLULU — A former Halawa Correctional Facility guard has been sentenced to four years in prison.

HONOLULU — A former Halawa Correctional Facility guard has been sentenced to four years in prison.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports 32-year-old James “Kimo” Sanders III was sentenced Thursday in federal court for accepting bribes to smuggle drugs.

Sanders was hired as a corrections officer in January 2012.

He pleaded guilty March 18 to one count of distributing methamphetamine and one count of bribery.

Prosecutors in court documents say Sanders accepted $5,000 in November to smuggle packages of tobacco containing methamphetamine.

They also say he sold two ounces of meth for $3,200.

He was sentenced by U.S. District Court Senior Judge Helen Gillmor to four years on each count. The sentences will be served concurrently.

Sanders is the second former Halawa prison guard sentenced for smuggling in just more than a year.