California Fentanyl and Methamphetamine Trafficker Sentenced to Over Eighteen Years in Prison in Homeland Security Task Force Investigation

HONOLULU - United States Attorney Ken Sorenson announced that Bill Van Nguyen, a/k/a "Sau," 57, of Garden Grove, California, was sentenced on June 22, 2026 by Senior United States District Judge Helen Gillmor to 220 months in prison followed by 5 years of supervised release for distributing, attempting to distribute, and conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl. The court also imposed a money judgment ordering Nguyen to forfeit $118,050 in drug proceeds.

According to court records, between April 2023 and April 2025, Nguyen sold and distributed over thirty-four and a half pounds of methamphetamine and eleven and a half pounds of fentanyl and fentanyl-laced pills from his base of operations in California to a Hawaii purchaser, who was an undercover law enforcement employee (the "undercover"). Nguyen sold the drugs to the undercover for approximately $118,050 and shipped them from California to Hawaii, concealing the drug shipments in canned goods labeled as hominy and condensed milk. Nguyen told the undercover he had a supplier in Mexico, traveled to Mexico during the timeframe of the conspiracy, and had access to other drugs, including oxycodone cocaine, and ketamine.

Over an approximately two-year period, Nguyen communicated with the undercover by text, phone calls, and in-person meetings in California. Nguyen directed and conspired with another California individual, Dylan Dang, who traveled to Hawaii on two occasions to meet with the undercover to take cash payments for the drug transactions. Dang has pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl and is scheduled to be sentenced in the District of Hawaii on July 7, 2026.

"Bill Van Nguyen made the choice to traffic massive amounts of crystal methamphetamine and fentanyl into Hawaii, and for those efforts, he will now spend most of the next two decades doing hard time in federal prison," said U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson. "The 220-month sentence in this case sends the clear message that trafficking deadly drugs like methamphetamine and fentanyl in Hawaii is a one-way ticket to a long prison sentence."

"Drug trafficking organizations operate with indifference toward the communities and lives they destroy-all to make a profit," said FBI Honolulu Special Agent in Charge David Porter. "This sentence is a direct result of the collaboration and dogged work of our federal, state, and local partners to dismantle criminal drug trafficking networks. The FBI is committed to removing these dangerous narcotics-and the individuals who push them-from our streets."

The FBI investigated the case with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Honolulu Police Department, and Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca A. Perlmutter prosecuted the case.

This prosecution was part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Hawaii comprises agents and officers from ICE-HSI, FBI, ATF, CBP, CGIS, DCIS, DEA, DSS, IRS-CI, NCIS, USMS, USPIS and HHIDTA with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Hawaii.