Hawaiian Adult Retailer Busted in Drug Investigation

An adult retailer in Hawaii was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of money laundering and managing a building that facilitated drug trafficking.

None of the charges have anything to do with obscenity, they all stem from a drug investigation that has been underway for two years.

Swing Video was allegedly a front for drug dealers since 1999. Betty Yi Hernandez, owner of the store, allegedly charged dealers $20 and customers $2 to enter the store where they could conduct their transactions in private.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports that the store was raided yesterday and federal agents seized drugs and equipment and arrested two people, Hernandez and an unidentified third-party.

According to DEA officials, thee indictment and the raid are part of a long-term operation that included 38 arrests of alleged dealers and users including connections to cocaine and methamphetamine suppliers in California and Arizona,

Hernandez, 50 years old, could be spending the rest of her life in prison - each charge could result in twenty years of jail time.