DLNR STATEMENT ON ETHAN FERGUSON

News Release from DLNR, March 6, 2017

The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) announced today that it has terminated the employment of DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Officer Ethan Ferguson. DLNR has no further comment on this matter.

WHT: Ferguson had been on paid administrative leave since being charged with the offenses on Jan. 8, 2016

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DLNR STATEMENT REGARDING CONVICTION OF ETHAN FERGUSON

News Release from DLNR February 22, 2017 (with clarifying info in parenthesis)

The Department of Land and Natural Resources has not received the record of conviction for Ethan Ferguson.  At such time this record is received and reviewed, a decision will be made on Mr. Ferguson’s job status (which is currently “on PAID administrative leave”).

Several news organizations have asked about Ferguson’s mother in connection with this matter. Hawaii Government Employees Association President Jackie Ferguson-Miyamoto, had nothing to do with his hiring as a Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) officer and we have no record of her being listed as a reference. 

(IQ Test: Do you believe this?)

DOCARE has implemented changes to its vetting process for all new hires.  This includes extensive background and reference checks, additional evaluation and training for both officers and supervisors, and closer monitoring by supervisors.

(They imply a mistake was made, and yet they still haven’t stopped paying the convicted rapist.)

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State confirms it knew rape suspect had been fired by Honolulu Police Department -- "HPD, however, says it told the state that Ferguson — who reportedly falsified reports and lied to superiors about transporting a juvenile female runaway — shouldn’t be hired." --  West Hawaii Today, Jan 16, 2016

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Jury finds HGEA President’s Son guilty of sex assault

HTH Feb 22, 2017: A jury found a Department of Land and Natural Resources enforcement officer guilty Wednesday of raping a teenage girl on a Hilo beach on New Year’s Day 2016.

It took the panel of seven men and five woman less than three hours to convict 40-year-old Ethan Ferguson of two counts of second-degree sexual assault and three counts of fourth-degree sexual assault….

Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura ordered Ferguson to return for sentencing at 8 a.m. April 24. Deputy Prosecutor Haaheo Kahoohalahala asked the judge to revoke Ferguson’s $13,000 bail, describing him as a flight risk. The judge denied the motion….

The girl, now 17, and her family left the courtroom quickly after the verdict was read, while Ferguson hugged his wife and mother (the HGEA President). 

(The HGEA President was sitting in the courtroom watching this trial.)

Ferguson was fired for misconduct after almost 12 years as a Honolulu Police Department officer before being hired in 2013 by DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement. His mother, Jackie Ferguson-Miyamoto, is president of Hawaii Government Employees’ Association, the union representing DOCARE officers (which of course has nothing to do with him getting hired at DLNR).

Ferguson was on paid administrative leave by DLNR pending the outcome of the trial (and now?).

read … Jury finds state cop guilty of sex assault

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DLNR Cop Accused of Raping Girl—My Mommy is HGEA President

HTH Feb 14, 2017: The teen testified she thought she was being escorted to Ferguson’s vehicle when he told her he wanted to talk to her in the shade. She said he took her to “a grassy area with trees.”

“We stopped by the trees and he told me I had three options, which was money, drugs or sex,” the girl said. She said she didn’t have any money or any drugs other than the marijuana he’d already taken and that she was a virgin and didn’t want to have sex.

“He put his tongue in my mouth and I told him this wasn’t happening,” the alleged victim said. She said at some point, he put her on the mat, pinned her down with his body, pulled up her tank top and bikini top, performed sex acts on her and forced her to perform a sex act on him.

“I wanted it to stop. I was crying,” she said.

The teen said Ferguson gave her the still-full pipe back before he left without her.

“He kind of laughed and said I could finish smoking that bowl now,” she said.

Ferguson, who is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of his trial, was fired for misconduct by the Honolulu Police Department prior to his 2013 hiring as a state law enforcement officer. His mother, Jackie Ferguson-Miyamoto, is president of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the union representing DLNR’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement officers. (Buried lede!)

read … HGEA Connection