A month ago, Jacob “Jake” Smith, complained that he had been assaulted three times since he had testified in the trial of his former boss, Mike Miske. Smith, through his attorney, asked to be transferred to house arrest at his parents’ home until sentencing in October.

Smith was first recruited into the Miske organization when he was just 21 or 22, where he was soon “on call” to provide muscle for Miske’s “dirty work,” according to testimony during Miske’s 6-month trial. He was arrested on drug charges in 2018, and eventually pleaded guilty to being part of Miske’s racketeering enterprise and conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.

Similar “services” had previously been provided by Hansen Apo, who was arrested on drug and firearms charges in 2012, and pleaded guilty to three felony counts the following year. After his initial court appearance, Apo was represented by attorney Alan Kaneshiro, who provided legal services to a number of Miske’s associates who ran into trouble. Apo was sentenced to three 5-year prison terms served concurrently.

Apo was shot and killed while allegedly threatening a Punaluu man in April 2019, soon after being released from prison, according to a newspaper account of the shooting.

Smith’s request for house arrest was nixed by Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield, but in a subsequent hearing on August 5, an attorney representing the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu said Smith would be moved to another facility “in short order.”

I checked the federal Bureau of Prisons online inmate locator in an attempt to see whether Smith has been moved, and quickly found part of the answer.

According to the inmate locator, he was “released” by the Bureau of Prisons on August 9, but nothing is said about where he was moved to, or where he is now.

This is different from what happened when other witnesses against Miske who were moved for their personal safety. Their records were erased from the inmate locator, as if they had never been held in a federal facility. Lance Bermudez, Wayne Miller, and Harry Kauhi simply disappeared, leaving no trace in the inmate locator.

When Bermudez entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors, the hearing where he would formally enter the guilty plea was held by video conferencing. During the hearing, Judge Derrick Watson stated that there were “security concerns” with attempting to bring Bermudez back to Honolulu from an undisclosed federal facility. At that time, his name and location information had already been scrubbed from the inmate locator system. Although Bermudez ultimately was not called as a witness, he remains in an undisclosed location.

Bermudez is scheduled for sentencing before Judge Waton on February 20, 2025. Whether that will be in person or in a video appearance remains to be seen.

Smith’s sentencing has been moved up a week to October 2, when he is scheduled to appear before Judge Watson. He faces a mandatory 10-year minimum on the drug charge. Meanwhile, his whereabouts in the prison system remains unknown.