Methamphetamine trafficker sentenced to 14 years in prison

HONOLULU – A Honolulu woman was sentenced Tuesday to 172 months in prison on methamphetamine trafficking charges stemming from a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Malia Arciero, 34, appeared Tuesday before Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Molloway. In January, a federal grand jury convicted Arciero of four counts of intentionally distributing 50 or more grams of methamphetamine.  The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the court further found that Arciero’s accusations of criminal misconduct against the lead federal criminal investigator in the case constituted obstruction of justice and were attempts by the defendant to manipulate the judicial proceedings toward a disposition favorable to her.

On the eve of her sentencing, Arciero filed a sworn declaration that the prior assertions she made about the agent’s misconduct in the criminal litigation were unsubstantiated and without basis. She also filed a dismissal of a state civil lawsuit against the agent containing similar allegations.

According to court documents, Arciero was arrested in April 2013 as she was transporting a pound of methamphetamine to a person cooperating with law enforcement. Following her arrest, Arciero confessed to transporting the methamphetamine and previously distributing multi-pound quantities of the contraband.