A lieutenant of alleged Hawaii crime boss Michael J. Miske Jr. was an oxycodone addict who sold methamphetamine while on federal probation and working as an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, defense attorneys established Thursday.
Wayne Miller started his testimony Wednesday as part of a Dec 4, 2020, agreement with federal prosecutors.
He is exchanging the truth about his role in a criminal enterprise for a start at redemption and up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the prosecution argues.
Miller testified Thursday that he sold methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine while working as an FBI informant. He also is an oxycodone addict who forgets events and details, he acknowledged.
Miller is lying about Miske’s world to avoid life in prison after he was arrested for a firearm and drug offense while on probation for bank robbery, the defense maintains.
Miller agreed to plead guilty to violating the conspiracy to commit racketeering in exchange for admitting to facts that are an “outline” of what happened in relation to the charge he pleaded to, according to the Dec. 4, 2020, agreement.
Those facts include Miller joining the “Miske Enterprise” in 2014 and participating in racketeering activity like kidnapping, murder and obstruction of justice. Miller also agreed to helping plan and equip the kidnapping and murder of Johnathan Fraser, who Miske allegedly blamed for the death of his son Caleb Jordan Miske.
Miller told the court Wednesday that after Caleb’s accident in March 2016, Miske told him that Fraser had to go and to develop plans and gather supplies, like a boat, weights and guns. A North Shore associate was allegedly approached for help.
Miller also agreed to detail his participation in five murder-for-hire contracts that never happened and a kidnapping of a 72-year-old accountant who owed money to a business partner who allegedly hired Miske to recover it.
Miller also agreed to detail how he sold cocaine and methamphetamine from 2014 to 2018, including an alleged $400,000 cocaine buy in Los Angeles on Miske’s behalf.
During cross-examination of Miller on Thursday, Miske’s attorney, Michael J. Kennedy, showed the court a picture of the cocaine stacked up in white bricks. Miller acknowledged he was on probation at the time when he visited a Los Angeles drug stash house to pick up the cocaine. Kennedy told the court that police never found any money.
Miller was pulled over by police on the 405 Freeway, but the cocaine was not in his car and Miller was hospitalized before being set free.
Kennedy asserted there never was any money, but Miller insisted there was despite no evidence displayed in court that law enforcement found it.
Miller also admitted when asked by Kennedy that he had been trafficking drugs with two other close friends who had nothing to do with Miske.
In response to questions from Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark A. Inciong on Wednesday, Miller described Miske as his “closest friend.”
“That’s how I thought about him my whole life,” said Miller, 39, who met Miske in the late 1990s.
Miller detailed how he and accomplices followed targets Miske tapped to be assaulted. He detailed the use of tracking devices surreptitiously attached to target vehicles.
He also talked about people who Miske allegedly wanted dead.
In one instance, Miller detailed how Miske allegedly wanted to use a “tight end” to “third-base” a target who frequented Penny’s Drive Inn on Sand Island Access Road.
“Was weird this one … this one … at the most … third base ‘em,” Miller told Chief U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson’s court Wednesday.
Inciong asked Miller what that meant.
“Put him in the hospital, Miller replied. “F— him up real bad.”
A “tight end” is someone who “not going kill someone, but will put them in the hospital.”
Miller also alleged that Miske had him approach a hit man on the North Shore and offer him $200,000 to kill his “ride or die” girlfriend who was “like a mother” to Miske’s son after he thought she left “him for good” because she “knew too much.”
The hit man refused to hurt a woman, Miller said, even when Miske allegedly upped the offer to $400,000.
On Thursday, Kennedy asked Miller about his arrest on Aug. 1, 2018, by agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration while he met with his probation officer.
On July 13, 2018, “you sold drugs (methamphetamine) to an undercover agent?” asked Kennedy.
“Yes sir,” replied Miller, who admitted to a $2,000-a-day oxycodone habit and popping more than 20 at a time at the peak of his addiction. Miller acknowledged that the charge of selling to the DEA agent was dismissed in October 2019.
Miller also acknowledged that he was high on oxycodone when he drove his 2011 Crown Victoria to a meeting with his probation officer Aug. 1, 2018. If he refused a search, he could go back to prison for five years.
Miller refused to sign the consent-to-search form because “I let them search my car. … I knew they was gonna do it anyway.”
“So, they found meth‑amphetamine, right?” asked Kennedy.
“Yes sir,” replied Miller.
“You were using meth?” asked Kennedy. “No,” answered Miller. “You were selling meth?” Kennedy followed. “Yes,” said Miller.
“They found heroin, right? You were using heroin?” Kennedy continued. “Yes,” answered Miller. “Were you selling heroin?” Kennedy continued. “Yes,” Miller replied.
Miller also admitted that the cocaine found by federal agents in his car was from a stash he was selling. The FBI agent “and his boss” that Miller was informing for showed up at the Aug. 1, 2018, incident, Miller said.
Miller also admitted that a .357 magnum with six rounds, a .22-caliber handgun with a silencer, a pair of handcuffs and three fake law enforcement badges were also in his car when he showed up to see his probation officer.
He admitted that the equipment was used by himself and Jacob “Jake” Ortiz during the kidnapping of the accountant, Robert Lee.
Kennedy also walked Miller through his initial years of interactions with Miske.
Miller admitted that he was living a life of incarceration and crime while Miske was building Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control into an industry leader and starting his solar and plumbing businesses.
Kennedy noted how Miske fumigated numerous “cultural treasures” in Hawaii, and highlighted his pro bono work to tent the Neal S. Blaisdell Center when the city could not afford it.
“I never said he did everything wrong,” said Miller. “He’s great at what he does. Everything he does.”
The cross-examination of Miller continues today.