Hillbroom jailed again for selling meth
Hillbroom
SANDPOINT — Intermittent Hope resident Larry Hillbroom Jr. has been arrested on new charges while awaiting drug trafficking charges in Palau, according to a report published by the news site PacificNote.
Hillbroom, the scion of late DHL Worldwide shipping magnate Larry Hillblom, is charged with possessing and selling methamphetamine.
Palau Vice President and Minister of Justice Raynold Oilouch confirmed on Thursday that Hillbroom was arrested in the state of Peleliu in the early morning of Oct. 11 by drug enforcement operatives and is now back in jail, PacificNote reported.
The Attorney General’s Office filed two counts of trafficking a controlled substance against Hillbroom on Oct. 10.
According to court documents, the Narcotics Enforcement Agency was assigned to investigate a case involving suspected drug trafficking involving another person in April, according to the PacificNote report.
Through a confidential informant, the NEA arranged a buy-bust operation but instead of found Hillbroom in the arranged area and made contact with the informant and conducted the transaction, selling a quantity of methamphetamine, the news site reported.
In May NEA and again Hillbroom made the transaction with the confidential informant. In both operations, Hillbroom personally made the buys, PacificNote reported.
The arrest warrant against Hillbroom was ordered on Oct. 10, 2017.
A plea hearing was conducted on Oct. 12 and Judge Lourdes Materne set the bail against Hillbroom at $250,000 cash or $500,000 surety bond.
In February 2016, Hillbroom was arrested after the seizure of 160 grams of methamphetamine, and pleaded not guilty to a trafficking charge. The trial for the 2016 arrest was supposed to be scheduled for January of 2018.
Hillbroom was also sentenced to five years probation for the escape days after he was arrested in 2016, PacificNote reported.
In Palau, a drug trafficking charge carries a sentence of 25-50 years in jail.
Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.