CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Honolulu police officer John Cambra IV made his way to federal court yesterday, where he pleaded not guilty to charges of hiding cockfighting gaffs during an FBI search of his home.
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5 plead not guilty in police probe
The charges range from illegal weapons to involvement in drug and cockfighting rings
By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com
Two Honolulu police officers pleaded not guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to charges in separate indictments that resulted from an FBI investigation targeting illegal gambling and crystal methamphetamine distribution on the North Shore.
Neither officer is charged in connection with illegal gambling or drug activities.
However, John Edwin Cambra IV is accused in an April 6 indictment, along with his father, John Edwin Cambra III, with concealing cockfighting metal spurs from the FBI during a search of their family's Kaneohe home in June 2005. Cambra IV and his attorney, Sam King Jr., declined comment.
Barry Tong, a 21-year veteran of the department with the Windward Crime Reduction Unit, is accused of possessing an unregistered Israeli Military Industries machine gun.
Defense attorney Joaquim Cox said the FBI had searched Tong's home and found no evidence tying him to any of the illegal cockfighting, gambling or drug activities that others in separate indictments had been charged with. It was during a second search of the home that the FBI seized the firearm, which was part of Tong's gun collection, he said.
Both officers were allowed to remain free after each signed a $25,000 bond.
Also pleading not guilty yesterday were Douglas Gilman Sr. and son Doug Gilman Jr. Both had been indicted on charges of operating an illegal cockfight operation for several years on family land across from Waialua Elementary School.
They were released pending trial after each signed a $25,000 bond.
Eric "Babu" Moniz, husband of an FBI secretary who leaked sensitive information to drug dealers, also pleaded not guilty to charges in a second indictment accusing him of selling "ice" to undercover FBI agents.
He was initially charged in an April 6 indictment with providing the information supplied by his wife to members of a drug ring.