Between January 2016 and August 2018, Timothy Taboada was selling crystal meth on a daily basis, often from his home on Ko Place in the Kaneohe neighborhood of Kapunahala, according to facts admitted as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors filed in federal court in November 2019.

Two of his main drug suppliers were Hunter Wilson and Jacob Smith, both allegedly part of a racketeering and drug conspiracy that operated under the cover of a network of seemingly “legitimate” businesses owned or controlled by Michael John Miske, Jr.

Miske, Wilson, and nine others were indicted in June 2020 for their roles in what prosecutors are calling the “Miske Enterprise.”

Although not named in the indictment, Smith was identified as one of the shooters in an ambush and attempted murder that took place in lunch hour at Kualoa Ranch on May 23, 2017 during the filming of “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.” The ambush is the basis for Count 8 in the Miske indictments.

The target in the ambush, during which several shots were fired, was Lindsey Kinney, a rigging grip on the movie crew. Although is identified only as “Victim-2” in the indictment, he later went public, both in an interview with Hawaii News Now after the indictment was issued, and earlier in an angry rant on Instagram soon after the shooting incident. On Instagram, Kinney said three men were directly involved in the ambush and attempted murder—Mike Miske, John Stancil (Miske’s half-brother), and Jacob Smith.

According to the plea agreement, Taboada bought methamphetamine in pound quantities from Smith and Wilson, which he then sold to buyers across Oahu. His housemate, Catherine Zapata, assisted by “packaging drugs for resell, driving Taboada to drug transactions, and by selling drugs to others.”

On February 9, 2018, a confidential source cooperating with the FBI contacted Taboada to arrange to buy two ounces of crystal meth for $1,400. Taboada drove to the meeting location at an undisclosed place in Kaneohe, where he met briefly with Smith, who arrived in a black BMW sedan. After leaving Smith’s car, he got into the buyer’s car, delivered a plastic Ziploc bag containing the drugs, and collected the money, which had been supplied to the buyer by FBI agents before the meeting.

With court authorization, the FBI maintained electronic surveillance of Taboada between March and June 2018, during which he “distributed methamphetamine to numerous others….” On one other occasion, Taboada and Zapata drove to Laie to meet a drug source, then drove back to Honolulu and sold four bags with 110 grams of pure methamphetaine for $2,400 to an FBI informant, according to the plea agreement.

In his plea agreement, Taboada admitted to conspiring with Zapata, Wilson, Smith, and others, including Lance Bermudez, to distribute crystal meth. Bermudez, known as “Hammah,” is also named in the Miske indictment as a member of the larger racketeering conspiracy.

Taboada also admitted knowing that some of the drugs Smith provided him had been stolen from other dealers, according to the plea agreement.

During the conspiracy, the defendant [Taboada] was aware that some of the methamphetamine Smith provided to him came from robberies of other drug dealers that were committed by Smith, Bermudez, and others. After being provided with methamphetamine that the defendant knew originated from robberies, the defendant sold that methamphetamine to others in the community.”

Several armed robberies of other drug dealers are included in the current charges against the Miske defendants.

Taboada also admitted to taking part in the 2016 armed robbery of a game room in Mapunapuna by holding a door open “so that Smith and Bermudez could gain entry into the game room.” This incident is mentioned in the legal memo prosecutors filed to justify keeping Bermudez in custody without bail.

Smith was arrested on August 24, 2018 on charges of distributing methamphetamine. Several documents filed in his case remain sealed by the court, and there has been no activity reflected in the court docket since October 2018. According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons online tracking system, Smith is located at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu. His release date is listed as “Unknown.”

Federal prosecutors in the Miske case have previously disclosed that dozens of witnesses testified before the grand jury, “including numerous cooperating defendants, several of whom have either already pled guilty or have agreed to do so in the future….”

There is speculation that Smith has not been named as a defendant in the Miske Enterprise case because he is one of those now cooperating with prosecutors.