Officer suspected of stealing drug evidence
PROSECUTOR REVIEWING CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION, POLICE TIGHT-LIPPED
Hawaii County Managing Director Wil Okabe fills in
for Mayor Harry Kim, the slated keynote speaker
at the Kona Kohala Chamber of Commerce Focus
Luncheon Thursday at King Kamehameha’s Kona
Beach Hotel. LAURA RUMINSKI/WEST HAWAII TODAY
KAILUA-KONA —
Hawaii Island Mayor
Harry Kim was taken
aback after he received a
call Tuesday night from
House Speaker Scott
Saiki asking him to testify
on a measure to
increase Hawaii County’s
share of the Transient
Accommodations Tax by
more than $12 million
annually for at least the
next dozen years.
Kim was even more
pleasantly surprised
Thursday when the legislation,
Senate Bill 648,
sailed through the House
Committee on Finance,
passing unanimously with
amendments.
“To tell you the truth,
this was so quiet that
Tuesday was the first I’d
heard of it,” the mayor
said. “I really believed
they’d shut the door on us
last year because they said
a $103 million maximum
(to split among neighbor
islands) in perpetuity.”
“That’s like saying ‘don’t
bother us,’” Kim continued.
“Obviously, I was
wrong.”
The bill would increase
Hawaii Island’s share of
TAT revenues from $19.1
million to $31.2 million
annually. It would also
bump Kauai’s portion up
nearly $9.5 million yearly
and increase Maui’s
share by a shade less than
$15 million. The amount
afforded to the city and
county of Honolulu would
remain unchanged.
Hawaii County’s financial
situation was already
stressed when Kim
assumed office a little
more than one year ago
and the proposed budget
for the upcoming
fiscal year is expected to
increase by around $25
million over the last,
cracking the half-billion
mark for the first time in
history.
Collective bargaining
increasing salaries
and benefits for
public employees, which
occurred primarily at the
state level, bumped this
year’s budget up nearly
$13 million. The Salary
Commission also doled
out several raises to
high-ranking county officials,
adding another $1.5
million.
In response, Hawaii
County hiked both property
and fuel taxes last
year. Kim said the notion
was as disconcerting as it
was necessary, as property
taxes now account for 72
percent of county revenue.
Kim sent over a revised
budget to the County
Council earlier this week
full of deep cuts to homeless
initiatives and other
social programs, as well as
several other projects.
“They were dramatic —
and I mean dramatic —
cuts,” Kim said.
An extra $12 million
yearly would go a long
way toward bolstering the
Village 9 homeless project
KAILUA-KONA — Hawaii
County police released information
about an investigation into
missing drug evidence and identified
a former police officer as a
person of interest, but have no
further comment.
“As stated in the media release
this is still an open investigation,
therefore, no additional comments
will be made by me or
my staff,” Hawaii County Police
Chief Paul K. Ferreira stated in
an email Thursday afternoon.
The case was forwarded to
the Hawaii County Prosecutor’s
Office on March 2 for a review of
possible charges.
“We’re determining whether
to keep it here or if we have any
conflicts,” said County Prosecutor
Mitch Roth.
If a conflict of interest is determined,
Roth said, the case would
be forwarded to the Department
of the Attorney General, where
it could be prosecuted
or assigned
to a prosecutor’s
office in another
county.
A press release
regarding the
criminal and
administrative
investigations
was posted on the police department’s
website Thursday morning.
It indicated that in October
2017, cocaine recovered as evidence
in 2014 was found to be
lighter than reported during its
initial recovery.
The release states the discrepancy
was discovered when the
evidence was being weighed in
preparation to utilize a small
quantity of the drug for training
purposes, police said.
“The investigation quickly
identified a sworn employee as
being a person of interest for the
missing portions of the drug,”
according to the release.
Police spokesman Alan
Richmond explained a sworn
employee is a police officer. The
former officer’s rank or years of
service were not disclosed. The
officer’s identity was also not
released, nor was the amount of
drugs missing.
In an interview on Hawaii
Public Radio, Ferreira said the
officer held the rank of detective.
At the time of the
investigation, the release indicates,
the officer was immediately
placed on administrative
leave without pay. Audits
of other evidence recovered
by the officer revealed “other
anomalies, which revealed cases
whereby there was a weight discrepancy
in marijuana concentrate,
(hashish), from two separate
investigations.”
The investigations from which
the evidence came had been suspended
because there were no
suspects.
The officer has since retired
from the department. Roth said
he believed the individual retired
this year; however, it could
have been at the end of 2017.
Roth didn’t know if the former
employee was receiving retirement
benefits.
In November,
the police
department said
it was expecting
up to 20 upcoming
retirements,
eight of which
were ranking
officers.
Although it
has been five months since the
initial investigation, Roth said,
he thought the release of information
was rather quick.
“I think the police chief has
done everything to be as transparent
as possible,” he said.
From what he saw, Roth added,
the investigation was in-depth.
The report filed with the prosecutor’s
office was pages long.
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VOL. 50, NO. 75 20 PAGES
BY TIFFANY DEMASTERS
WEST HAWAII TODAY
tdemasters@westhawaiitoday.com
Ferreira
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Mayor did right by ditching Chamber luncheon for shot
at higher TAT share.
Editorial, page 8A
A BIGGER PIECE OF THE PIE
SURPRISE BILL GIVING NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
HIGHER TAT SHARE ALIVE AND ADVANCING
BY MAX DIBLE
WEST HAWAII TODAY
mdible@westhawaiitoday.com
SEE TAT PAGE 6A
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