Brun pleads guilty, agrees to 15-year sentence for running drug trafficking ring

LIHU‘E — Former Kaua‘i County Councilmember Arthur Brun has pled guilty to leading an island-wide methamphetamine trafficking operation on Kaua‘i.

“I had a drug habit,” Brun told a judge Wednesday morning. “I did a lot of drugs and sold drugs to support my habit. I got no excuse, I take full responsibility for it, and, you know, I accept the responsibility for my actions. I’m guilty of all charges.”

Brun, 49, appeared via video conference from the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.

Federal prosecutors and Brun agreed to a 15-year prison sentence on several charges, including possession and distribution of meth, assaulting a federal law enforcement officer, both evidence and witness tampering and more.

He was facing an estimated 30 years to life, his attorney Rustam Barbee said Wednesday.

“It’s a fact that good people make bad mistakes,” Barbee said. “Arthur Brun, for most of his life, has been a good person. Unfortunately, in his recent past, he suffered from methamphetamine addiction. Today, he has acknowledged that and will atone for his mistakes by agreeing to a lengthy 15-year prison sentence.”

The deal is up for U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson to accept or reject after receiving a pre-trial investigation and comments.

Brun was arrested Feb. 27, 2020, along with 11 other people, and charged with running a methamphetamine distribution ring. In pleading guilty, Brun will not have to stand trial, but prosecutors said there is evidence including wiretapping and statements from undercover officers.

Brun was elected to public office in 2016 on an anti-drug platform and served as the council’s Public Safety and Human Services Vice Chair. Since his arrest and until December 2020, Brun continued to receive his county salary, despite the council revoking his voting abilities.

In detail, the plea agreement outlines Brun’s involvement with co-defendants, including Malueleu Umu, who Brun met in 2016, while Umu was serving a state prison sentence at Kaua‘i Community Corrections Center.

As a volunteer in a prisoner re-entry program, Brun would pick Umu and other inmates up to drive them to community services activities.

In 2018, Brun asked Umu, who had connections to the United Samoan Organization gang, to help him with the operation, according to the agreement.

Much of Brun’s dealings came to public light in October 2019.

Toward the end of that month, Brun purchased about a pound of methamphetamine from Umu. Following this, the Kaua‘i Police Department pulled Brun over as part of a traffic stop. The stop, which was monitored by federal officers, resulted in the injuring of a KPD lieutenant and a high-speed chase, during which Brun threw about one pound of methamphetamine out of the car.

In the past, Brun had trafficked controlled substances, but after receiving drug treatment had been substance-free until 2018, according to court documents.

“During the time period in which the defendant was substance-free, the defendant made positive contributions to his community on Kaua‘i (including working to securing funding for drug treatment programming and for the county wiretap facilities that were later used in the investigation against him), demonstrating that he was capable of living a law-abiding and productive life while substance-free,” the plea agreement reads.

Brun’s addiction, the agreement notes, was brought on by physical injuries and the deterioration of his marriage.

The investigation did not reveal that Brun obtained “significant profit from his drug trafficking activities, but rather supported the conclusion that his proceeds were spent in significant part on purchases of controlled substances for his own personal use.”

Brun will be sentenced on March 24, 2022, at 9 a.m.