Waianae man awarded $12.5M from city gets decade in prison

SA: … A 39-year-old felon who got $12.5 million from the city after he was hurt (slightly bruised) in a 2021 police pursuit (because he wrecked his car instead of pulling over) will spend a decade in federal prison for using a ghost gun while marketing methamphetamine in Waianae two months after he got the money.

(TRANSLATION: The state judiciary makes this guy a multi-millionaire.  The federal judiciary locks him up.)

Jonaven Perkins-Sinapati of Waianae was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Shanlyn A.S. Park to 120 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine and illegally possessing ammunition as a convicted felon.

The city can’t (won’t try to) get the money back despite his 10-year federal prison sentence for drug and gun crimes. (It is irrelevant to point out that) City settlement agreements are generally not contingent upon future conduct (because he could be sued civilly for the $12,500,001.00 damages caused by the crimes for which he has now been convicted) ….

read … Waianae man awarded $12.5M from city gets decade in prison | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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Waianae Resident Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Firearm and Drug Trafficking Offenses

News Release from U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Hawaii, Thursday, August 28, 2025

HONOLULU – Acting United States Attorney Ken Sorenson announced that Jonaven Perkins-Sinapati, 39, of Waianae, Hawaii, was sentenced today in federal court by U.S. District Judge Shanlyn A.S. Park to 120 months’ imprisonment followed by 5 years of supervised release for possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine and illegally possessing ammunition as a convicted felon. Perkins-Sinapati pled guilty pursuant to a plea agreement in May 2025. 

As part of this guilty plea, Perkins-Sinapati admitted that on May 23, 2024, while driving in Waianae, Hawaii and being followed by law enforcement in connection with an outstanding warrant, Perkins-Sinapati instructed a passenger in his vehicle to throw a bag out of the window and then continued driving.  Perkins-Sinapati was arrested shortly thereafter when stopped at an intersection, and law enforcement recovered the bag and searched both the bag and the vehicle, finding approximately 147 grams of methamphetamine, a loaded 9mm pistol with no serial number (commonly referred to as a “ghost gun”), 67 rounds of ammunition, and $1,721 in U.S. currency. 

According to information provided to the Court at sentencing, the offenses were committed while Perkins-Sinapati was released on bail for a pending state firearms offense relating to an alleged discharge of a firearm with a high-capacity magazine in a residential neighborhood in Kaneohe, Hawaii in May 2024. There was additional evidence presented to the Court that Perkins-Sinapati allegedly discharged a firearm from his vehicle’s sunroof on multiple occasions in public places in the days leading up to his arrest in this matter. 

At sentencing Judge Park emphasized the danger of ghost guns, which are untraceable. She called Perkins-Sinapati’s pattern of discharging firearms “grandiose and reckless” and his disposal of a ghost gun on the side of a public road “extremely dangerous.” Judge Park also admonished Perkins-Sinapati for being “a contributing factor” to the gun violence in Waianae, which she described as “wreaking havoc” on that community.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Barbara Eucker and Sara D. Ayabe for the District of Hawaii prosecuted the case.