After Sovereignty ‘Army’ Ousted, Alleged Meth Dealer moves in on Local Country Club
by Andrew Walden
Akamai readers will remember Police and Sheriffs, July 1, 2022, forcibly evicting the ‘Occupied Forces Hawaii Army,’ commanded by one ‘Colonel Lilikoi,’ formerly known as the ‘Bicycle Bandit’ Eric C A Nelson, from a marijuana grow-op at the Hawaii Country Club in Kunia.
Next came an alleged 54 lbs of methamphetamines.
Documents provided to Hawai’i Free Press by former Hawaii Country Club manager and Honolulu Councilmember Tom Berg, show September, 2022, negotiations between Berg, alleged meth dealer Nathan Ah-hoy ‘Butch’ Lee, a multiple convicted felon, and Waipahu Realtor Nainiu Fakava over a possible lease for the grow-op site. The Hawaii Country Club site on Kunia Road is owned by Berg’s then-boss, California Realtor Guy Fong.
Fakava and Lee are partners in “N&N 808 Kunia Recreational Motorcross, LLC”, according to DCCA Business Registration (BREG), March 2, 2023.
Fakava, according to BREG, is also the sole ‘agent’ for “The Turn at Stella’s Restaurant and Bar” which allegedly handles all alcohol sales on the Hawaii Country Club site. Stella’s is owned by ‘Wellington Productions, LLC’ with BREG showing Fakava as the sole listed member. Convicted felons are prohibited from holding a Honolulu liquor license. Unlike Lee, ECourtKokua lists no felony record for Fakava.
Fakava did not respond to a request for comment.
Operations at the Hawaii Country Club quickly grew to encompass alcohol and food service for a $199 per-ticket tourist luau busing in hundreds of tourists nightly. Ticket coupons are sold at a deep discount on Groupon.
In the same timeframe, Lee’s federal indictment accuses him of selling 19 lbs of methamphetamines and lists evidence of “fifty drug and money parcels shipped between Hawaii and California over the course of seven months.” Police, executing a November, 2023, search warrant, allegedly found another 35 lbs of meth along with guns and ammunition in Lee’s house.
Unsealed April 11, 2024, Lee’s indictment describes him as one of seven Hawaii and two California co-conspirators allegedly engaged in “a years-long, multi-defendant drug trafficking conspiracy” which allegedly moved 150 lbs of methamphetamines, one kilo of fentanyl, and four kilos of carfentanil, an elephant tranquilizer 100 times more potent than fentanyl.
The indictment alleges Lee was one of the “leaders/organizers of distribution networks on Oahu and Hawaii Island….”
According to Court documents, Lee was arrested April 9, 2024, across Kunia Rd from the Honolulu Country Club site.
Now, four months after Lee’s arrest, operations at Hawaii Country Club maybe nearing an end.
After grinding ever-so-slowly through the system, multiple Honolulu Liquor Commission complaints and Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) complaints are beginning to produce fines. On August 28, a $1,000 per day DPP fine for unpermitted luau-related construction is scheduled to kick in.
---30---
PDF: Documents
PDF: Lee Charging Memo April 2024