A 59-year-old Ainaloa woman was sentenced Wednesday to four years probation and a year in jail for growing marijuana while she was on probation for doing the same. ADVERTISING A 59-year-old Ainaloa woman was sentenced Wednesday to four years probation
A 59-year-old Ainaloa woman was sentenced Wednesday to four years probation and a year in jail for growing marijuana while she was on probation for doing the same.
Phyllis Arlene Morby, aka Phyllis Morby-Jones, pleaded guilty April 29 to two counts of second-degree commercial promotion of marijuana, attempted second-degree commercial promotion of marijuana, second-degree promotion of a harmful drug and third-degree promotion of a detrimental drug. In return for her plea, prosecutors dropped four counts of possessing drug paraphernalia and reduced a charge of first-degree commercial promotion of marijuana, a Class A felony punishable by up to 20-years imprisonment, to second-degree commercial promotion.
Four of the five charges Morby pleaded guilty to are Class B felonies carrying a possible 10-year prison term. The third-degree promotion of a detrimental drug charge, which is simple marijuana possession, is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
Morby was arrested May 29, 2014, after police executed a search warrant on her Tiki Lane property.
According to police, officers seized 162 marijuana plants from seedlings to 5-feet tall, 90 clones, 3.86 pounds of processed marijuana and 26.7 grams of butane honey oil, a marijuana concentrate.
Martin Bento, Morby’s court-appointed attorney, asked Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura to grant Morby a stay of her jail time or to allow her to serve it intermittently. He said Morby is the primary caregiver for her elderly mother. According to records, he also said Morby has her own health issues and has taken methadone, a synthetic opioid prescribed as a pain medication and also as maintenance therapy in opiate addiction.
Nakamura ordered Morby, who’s free on $33,200 bail, to report Oct. 21 to start serving her jail term, and advised her failure to appear is grounds for probation revocation and a possible prison term. He also ordered Morby to obtain substance abuse and mental health assessments and to follow any recommended treatments.
In addition, the clock was re-started on Morby’s five-year probation for her previous first-degree promotion of a detrimental drug conviction. In that case, prosecutors dropped 21 other charges in return for her guilty plea, including first-degree commercial promotion of marijuana.
Morby and her longtime boyfriend, Gilbert Espiritu, then 58, were arrested Oct. 18, 2012, after officers served a search warrant on three Tiki Lane properties that included what police described as two indoor marijuana farms.
In that raid, officers confiscated almost 99 pounds of dried marijuana, 321 marijuana plants, 96 clones, 2.5 grams of heroin, 125 grams of hashish and 232 hydrocodone pills — a semi-synthetic opioid painkiller marketed as Vicodin — at two of the properties.
Espiritu was sentenced June 21, 2013, to two years in jail and 10 years probation. At his sentencing, Espiritu’s lawyer, Brian De Lima, asked that his client be allowed a delay of eight months before starting his jail term because he was undergoing methadone treatment.
Nakamura declined that request, but did allow Espiritu two weeks, ordering him to report to jail July 5, 2013.
Espiritu was released from custody June 27, according to the state Department of Public Safety website.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
