HONOLULU — Five individuals have been arrested involving three recent cases of contraband smuggling in Hawaii’s correctional facilities, the Department of Public Safety announced Thursday.
“Operation Paper Shredder” is an intensive correctional crime reduction initiative initiated by DPS as part of its ongoing effort to eliminate contraband introduction to the state’s correctional facilities.
The investigations are ongoing, and more arrests are expected, according to a press release from DPS.
“Public Safety’s Corrections and Law Enforcement Divisions have been working hand-in-hand on these cases to stop contraband from making it into the jails and prisons,” DPS Director Tommy Johnson said in a statement. “The efforts by corrections staff to intercept the drugs and turn them over to law enforcement prompted each of these cases, resulting in arrests.”
The department’s law enforcement task force, comprised of narcotics agents, internal affairs investigators, and deputy sheriffs, actively investigated the cases leading up to the arrests.
In all three cases, the department believes that inmates influenced their family members, friends, or associates to obtain contraband and participate in smuggling schemes that attempted to introduce illegal drugs into Oahu correctional facilities.
Two of the cases involved sending drug-laden paper through the mail into prison. Drug paper is manufactured with a controlled substance soaked into or onto the surface of the paper. The paper itself looks harmless, making it an attractive form of prison contraband.
The third case involved methamphetamine.
In the first case, 35-year-old Michelle Soto is suspected of supplying 29-year-old Kimberly Cambra with the drug paper. Cambra allegedly prepared mail destined for an inmate at an Oahu correctional facility and gave it to her associate, 27-year-old Tiffany Fountain, who mailed the letter at a local post office.
That letter was intercepted by Narcotics Enforcement Division agents, was tested, and found to contain a controlled substance. All three women were then arrested.
In the second case, 42-year-old Annette Garcia was arrested in Hilo by State Narcotics Division Agents, with the assistance of state sheriffs and Hawaii County police, after a letter containing drug paper was interdicted at an Oahu correctional facility by corrections officers. Through investigation, NED agents identified Garcia as a suspect and probable cause existed for her arrest.
In the third case, 38-year-old Katherine Sanee-Wong was arrested after a letter containing methamphetamine was intercepted at an Oahu correctional facility by corrections officers. Through investigation, agents identified Sanee-Wong as a suspect and probable cause existed for her arrest.
All the suspects were arrested on one count of promoting prison contraband in the first degree, which is a Class B felony in Hawaii.