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October 6, 2004
FEDERAL JURY CONVICTS TWO MEN FOR ECSTASY TRAFFICKING
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that Horace Ho and Delon Hue were convicted of ecstasy trafficking by a federal jury today. The jury, after deliberating for five hours, found that Ho and Hue participated in a conspiracy to sell ecstasy pills. The guilty verdict followed a two-week jury trial before U.S. District Court Judge D. Lowell Jensen.
Mr. Ho, 24, of Walnut Creek, and Mr. Hue, 34, of San Francisco, were indicted by a federal grand jury on August 19, 2004. They was charged with a conspiracy to sell ecstasy pills, including the attempted sale of more than 1,000 pills to an undercover agent. Another co-defendant, Samson Lam, earlier pled guilty as part of a cooperation agreement with the government.
According to trial testimony, Mr. Lam agreed to sell 1,000 ecstasy pills to Gina Giachetti, an agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration who was posing as a seller of narcotics on college campuses. They agreed to complete the transaction in the parking lot of the Pet Club in Emeryville.
The trial evidence showed that on July 24, 2001, Mr. Lam arrived with Mr. Ho to meet the undercover agent. Mr. Hue later arrived with 1,000 ecstasy pills concealed in a food container, which he gave to Mr. Lam for resale. After Mr. Lam attempted to sell those pills to the agent, all three were arrested.
The maximum statutory penalty for each count of ecstasy trafficking in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and conspiracy to sell ecstasy, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, is 20 years imprisonment. However, the actual sentence may be dictated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and would be imposed at the discretion of the Court. The sentencing of Mr. Ho and Mr. Hue is scheduled for January 14, 2005, before Judge Jensen in Oakland.
The conviction is the result of a three-year investigation by Special Agent Gina Giachetti of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant United States Attorney Michael L. Wang tried the case with the assistance of Katie Cannuli.
A copy of this press release and related court filings may be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can. Related court documents and information may be found on the District Court website at www.cand.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Luke Macaulay at (415) 436-6757 or by email at Luke.Macaulay3@usdoj.gov.
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