Man who pleaded to guilty to possessing ice gets 4 years’ imprisonment  

The Superior Court has imposed a four-year imprisonment sentence on a man who recently pleaded guilty to possessing ice. 

Last week, Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho sentenced Qiu Yongqiang to four years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to illegal possession of a controlled substance; methamphetamine. 

However, in his judgment and commitment order, Camacho ordered the suspension of the first two years of Qui’s sentence meaning only the first two years is to be served day by day without parole or early release.

Qui, who has no prior criminal record, was also given credit for 52 days of time served.

The judge also placed Qiu under supervised probation for a period of three years upon his release from imprisonment and ordered him to report to the Office of Adult Probation on the next business day following his release from the Department of Corrections.

Qiu will pay no fine as the court has ruled that he is indigent, but he was ordered to pay a court fee of $25 and a probation fee of $120 per year.

After the hearing, Qiu was ordered to immediately serve his sentence.

In addition, because Qui is not a U.S. citizen, a copy of the judgment and commitment order issued by the court was  provided to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Immigration and Customs Enforcement as Qui faces possible deportation after serving his sentence.

According to court documents, following a “buy-walk” operation conducted by the Department of Public Safety-Drug Enforcement Task Force in April 2022, Qiu was identified by informers as a drug dealer who sold methamphetamine. 

The parties involved in this case entered into a plea agreement because the facts and circumstances underlying the charge involve the use of confidential informants and/or confidential sources. 

Qui’s attorney, Janet King, had previously requested that the court compel the Attorney General’s Office to reveal the identity of these informants who spoke against her client. 

“Should this matter proceed to trial, the Commonwealth would be required to call as witness(es) any involved Confidential Source(s) and/or Confidential Informant(s) thereby revealing their identity. Such disclosure could possibly compromise the safety and well-being of these confidential sources, as well as the operational integrity of other ongoing criminal investigations and/or criminal prosecutions for similarly situated defendants,” a joint statement from King and assistant attorney general Steve Kessel said.