HILO — A Hilo teacher is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 13 in Honolulu for her role in a crytal methamphetamine distribution ring.

Lynn M. Dionise, 51, could be sentenced to life in prison and fined up to $4 million by U.S. District Judge David Ezra. Her case was originally before Judge Helen Gillmor, who retired at the end of June.
Dionise pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and two counts of using the telephone to conspire to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
A sentencing statement filed July 29 has been sealed. Dionise's attorney, Louis M. Ching, did not return a phone call yesterday in time for this story.
Dionise also has an Oct. 12 trial date in Hilo Circuit Court on state charges of first-degree methamphetamine trafficking, second-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, third-degree promotion of a detrimental drug and possession of drug paraphernalia. That case stems from an April 29, 2008, raid of her Hale Moana condominium in Keaukaha. Police reportedly found four packets of crystal methamphetamine totaling 6.8 grams, less than a third of a gram of marijuana, and $13,245 in cash that police say was in a closet safe.
"I think defense is going to ask for a continuation of her (state) trial until after her (federal) sentencing," Deputy Prosecutor Jason Skier said yesterday. "We're trying to resolve her case; I can't really comment on that."
According to the federal indictment, Dionise was one of 10 people involved in a methamphetamine distribution ring operating "in the District of Hawaii and elsewhere." Dionise is named in three counts of the 19-count indictment, covering "approximately July 2007 to Aug. 13, 2008."
She pleaded guilty to having phone conversations with co-defendant Jorge Alberto Leal on Jan. 13 and 14, 2008, "to facilitate ... a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine," and of traveling from Kona to Hilo with co-defendants Leal and Christine C. Padilla on Feb. 21, 2008, to distribute methamphetamine.
Dionise, a former special education teacher at Keaukaha Elementary School, remains listed as a Hawaii District Office teacher on the state Department of Education Web site, which is updated monthly.