A Garden Grove, California man will spend more than 18 years in federal prison after authorities say he turned canned goods into a drug pipeline, moving heavy loads of methamphetamine and fentanyl from the mainland to Hawaii.
Federal prosecutors in Honolulu said the case grew out of a long-running undercover operation that targeted parcels shipped from California to the islands, part of a broader push to choke off supply lines feeding Hawaii’s drug market.
United States Attorney Ken Sorenson’s office identified the defendant as Bill Van Nguyen, also known as “Sau,” 57, of Garden Grove. Senior United States District Judge Helen Gillmor sentenced Nguyen on June 22 to 220 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered him to forfeit $118,050 in drug proceeds, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii. The office said Nguyen was convicted of distributing, attempting to distribute, and conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl…