Jonaven Perkins-Sinapati, a 39-year-old resident of Waianae, Hawaii, has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and five years of supervised release for methamphetamine trafficking and illegal possession of ammunition as a convicted felon. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Shanlyn A.S. Park following Perkins-Sinapati’s guilty plea in May 2025.
According to court documents, on May 23, 2024, law enforcement officers followed Perkins-Sinapati in Waianae due to an outstanding warrant. During the pursuit, he instructed a passenger to discard a bag out of his vehicle window before being stopped and arrested at an intersection. Authorities recovered the bag and conducted searches that revealed approximately 147 grams of methamphetamine, a loaded untraceable 9mm “ghost gun,” 67 rounds of ammunition, and $1,721 in cash.
The court also heard that Perkins-Sinapati committed these offenses while out on bail for an unrelated state firearms charge connected to an alleged firearm discharge with a high-capacity magazine in Kaneohe earlier in May 2024. Additional evidence indicated that he allegedly fired a weapon from his vehicle’s sunroof multiple times in public areas prior to his arrest.
At sentencing, Judge Park addressed the risks posed by ghost guns: “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 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) led the investigation into this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Barbara Eucker and Sara D. Ayabe prosecuted.
