Hilo, Hawaiʻi – A Hilo man has been sentenced to a ten-year prison term for the attempted distribution of fentanyl. Prosecuting Attorney Kelden Waltjen announced that Paul Alisa, 42, received the sentence today in Hilo Circuit Court after pleading guilty to the charge.
The charges stem from an incident on May 26, 2024, when Hawaiʻi Police Department’s VICE East officers executed a narcotics search warrant on a Honda Accord that Alisa was operating. During the search, police recovered approximately 0.5 grams of fentanyl, along with a digital scale and more than 50 clean, unused zip packets.
Following the recovery, Alisa admitted to police that he buys 0.5 grams of fentanyl and sells “points” (0.1 grams) of the drug. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, as little as 0.02 grams of fentanyl can be a lethal dose.
Alisa previously entered a guilty plea to the charge of Promoting a Dangerous Drug in the Second Degree on May 15, 2025. During his sentencing hearing, the Court also revoked Alisa’s felony probation and sentenced him to concurrent prison terms.
Promoting a Dangerous Drug in the Second Degree is a class B felony offense that carries a penalty of up to a ten-year prison term. The felony drug investigation was handled by the Hawaiʻi Police Department’s VICE East section, and the case was prosecuted by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Elyssa Correia Keltner.