FBI moving forward with case against HPD chief, prosecutor wife

HNN October 9, 2015: ...The FBI investigation into alleged civil rights violations by Honolulu's police chief and his wife is moving forward. 

Sources say a special prosecutor from San Diego is overseeing the case. That prosecutor was appointed by the U.S. Attorney General's Office in Washington, D.C. 

Sources also say subpoenas are going out and an investigative grand jury could hear the case later this year....

In the wake of the criminal case involving the Kealohas' mailbox, attorney Alexander Silvert, the public defender who represented Puana, said, "I'm interested in presenting evidence that I believe amounts to either civil rights violations or obstruction of justice type of charges." ...

sources say Silvert gave the FBI evidence that shows documents in the mailbox case were doctored, surveillance video mysteriously disappeared and that a specialized group of officers were assigned to investigate and arrest the uncle....

read ... FBI Moving Ahead

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Full Text: Chief Kealoha Files Anonymous Suit to Shut Down Ethics Investigation

HNN October 8, 2015: ...Using the pseudonym Doe and Roe to protect their “privacy interest,” the Kealohas filed the lawsuit in Circuit Court on Sept. 4, asking a judge to stop the city ethics investigation.

Their suit said the city has "wrongfully refused" to provide them with a copy of the ”initiating information and/or other information upon which the investigation is/was based,” as well as investigative information and materials obtained in its ethics probe.

The lawsuit claimed both Ethics Commission Director Chuck Totto and the investigator who handled the case, retired HPD Captain Letha DeCaires, are "not qualified" to investigate them, partly because of what the suit claims is an unspecified "conflict of interest."  The lawsuit misspelled DeCaires’ last name as “DeCaries.”

The Kealohas claimed the commission's secrecy is inhibiting them from mounting a defense against the allegations.

The lawsuit goes on to say the Kealohas’ "ability to properly and fully investigate and respond to the allegations, prepare a defense, all while being required to provide voluminous information, have been severely handicapped by not being informed of the allegations to which they are expected to respond."

At a rally against domestic violence Thursday, Hawaii News Now tried to ask Kealoha if he and his wife filed the lawsuit, and he said, “That's no ... No comment.” ...

In a second lawsuit filed July 8, Katherine Kealoha, using the fictitious name "public servant," sued the Ethics Commission, trying to get a judge to force the commission to provide her a copy of the ethics complaint against her. That lawsuit was later withdrawn.

The ethics case is the least of the Kealohas’ concerns, since the FBI is also investigating the police chief's potential abuse of power in what could become a federal criminal probe.

To see the lawsuit, click here.

read ... No Ethics