Daniel K. Mahiai, 32, a Molokai resident, pleaded guilty in United States District Court yesterday to embezzling money from the Molokai Community Federal Credit Union (FCU). Mahiai, who worked as a teller at the FCU from August 2004 through February 4, 2008, faces a maximum term of 30 years imprisonment and a fine of up [...]
Ronald Joseph Radcliffe, age 43, today pled guilty in United States District Court before Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren to bribery and money laundering charges arising from Radcliffe’s tour of duty as an Army Master Sergeant in Iraq in 2004-2005. Before deploying to Iraq with the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry (Light), Radcliffe’s last residence was in [...]
ARTHUR LEE ONG, age 51, was indicted by a federal grand jury today for federal tax crimes. ONG is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and six counts of tax evasion relating to the years from 2000 through 2005. According to the indictment, ONG, the owner and operator of Thunder Bug, Inc., doing [...]
A Big Island man accused of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor after traveling to Cambodia made his initial appearance in federal court here today. Richard David Mitchell, 61, of Kamuela, on the island of Hawaii, is charged in a criminal complaint filed on August 26, 2009 in United States District Court in [...]
A federal grand jury returned an indictment today in United States District Court charging Charles Vidinha, 78, a Kauai resident, with the recent killing of a Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi) in violation of the Endangered [...]
On July 28, 2009, HECTOR CRUZ, age 38, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was sentenced by United States District Judge J. Michael Seabright to 175 months (over 14 ½ years) imprisonment for selling one pound of methamphetamine to an undercover Honolulu Police Department officer in March 2007. Cruz was the last to be sentenced of 15 [...]
HAROLD C. SPEAR, III, M.D., 56, formerly of Hanapepe, Hawaii, today pled guilty to four counts of dispensing controlled substances “outside the usual course of professional practice” and “not for a legitimate medical purpose.” SPEAR also pled guilty to one additional similar charge of dispensing controlled substances filed in the Middle District of Alabama, and [...]
Oliver Kupau III, a former business agent of Laborers’ Local 368, cannot hold union office or employment, according to an order issued by United States District Judge Helen Gillmor on June 12, 2009. Kupau, Laborers’ Local 368, and its parent union, the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) had requested an exemption for Kupau [...]
Queen’s Medical Center (”QMC”) of Honolulu, Hawaii has paid a total of $2.5 million to settle two lawsuits alleging that QMC over billed the Medicare program, the State of Hawaii Medicaid program, and TRICARE, the federal health benefits program for military dependents. The settlement grew out of civil “whistleblower” suits brought in federal and state [...]
United States Magistrate Judge Leslie Kobayashi yesterday sentenced JEROME KENNETH KINGZIO, age 28, of Saipan, to 21 days imprisonment for assaulting a fellow passenger on an airline flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu on March 21, 2009. KINGZIO also pled guilty to the offense before Judge Kobayashi yesterday.
Edward H. Kubo, Jr., United States Attorney for [...]