A 58-year-old Ainaloa woman sentenced to five years probation last June for growing marijuana pleaded not guilty to another round of drug charges. ADVERTISING A 58-year-old Ainaloa woman sentenced to five years probation last June for growing marijuana pleaded not
A 58-year-old Ainaloa woman sentenced to five years probation last June for growing marijuana pleaded not guilty to another round of drug charges.
Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura set trial for Phyllis Morby-Jones, aka Phyllis Morby, for 9 a.m. Nov. 3.
Morby-Jones is free on $33,250 bail.
She was arrested May 29 at her Tiki Lane home after police served a search warrant on the property.
According to a police spokeswoman, 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.
Morby-Jones was charged with first-degree commercial promotion of marijuana, second-degree commercial promotion of marijuana, attempted second-degree commercial promotion of marijuana, marijuana possession, second-degree promotion of a harmful drug and four counts of possessing drug paraphernalia.
Conviction for first-degree commercial promotion of marijuana carries a possible 20-year prison term.
Morby-Jones was sentenced June 3, 2013, for first-degree promotion of a detrimental drug. In return for her guilty plea, prosecutors dropped 21 other charges, including commercial promotion of marijuana.
She and her longtime boyfriend, Gilbert Espiritu, then 59, were arrested Oct. 18, 2012, in a previous raid on Tiki Lane. At that time, police confiscated 98.8 pounds of dried marijuana, 321 marijuana plants, 96 clones, 2.5 grams of heroin, 125 grams of hashish and 232 hydrocodone pills — which are marketed as Vicodin — in indoor-growing operations at two of the properties.
Espiritu, who also pleaded guilty, was sentenced June 22, 2013, to two years in jail and 10 years probation, with credit for time previously served.
