Ex-officer's guilty plea: I tipped off cockfighters
A resigned policeman is one of three accused of warning gamblers
One of three Honolulu policemen indicted for allegedly warning operators of a Waialua gambling business of impending police raids has pleaded guilty.
Glenn Miram, a seven-year veteran of the Honolulu Police Department who resigned several weeks ago, entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors yesterday. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to and obstructing law enforcement to help the gambling business, which included cockfighting, craps and card games.
In documents filed in federal court yesterday, Miram said he is guilty of conspiring with fellow officers Kevin Brunn, a 21-year veteran who was last with the Wahiawa police station, and Bryson Apo of the Windward crime reduction unit.
Miram also admitted to co-conspiring with Charles Gilman, owner of the Waialua site, and others.
Attorney William Harrison said his client chose to plead guilty rather than put his family through a trial.
"He obviously is contrite," he said. "He is the first one of the police officers that has taken responsibility, and I think that says a lot for his character."
Miram, who spent the last 2 1/2 years with the NarcoticsVice Division, said that on March 19, 2005, he provided information on the gambling detail's operations to Apo and Waialua resident and cockfight operator John Saguibo, "knowing that they were using this information to evade law enforcement efforts at the Waialua cockfights."
Miram acknowledged he contacted Apo by cell phone, then called John Saguibo and said that police would be at the Waialua cockfights.
Miram told "Apo that the gambling detail would 'bang Waialua tomorrow,' " the court document said.
"He admitted today to making one call ... at the behest of a co-defendant police officer to John Saguibo," Harrison said. "Today he took responsibility for that one phone call and acknowledged he should not have made that one phone call and given John Saguibo that information."
Given the nature of his conduct and coming forward and acknowledging his complicity, "he has an excellent chance of avoiding jail time," Harrison said.
The U.S. Attorney agreed to ask for a one-level sentencing reduction. He faces up to five years' imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and two years' supervised release.
Miram is scheduled to be sentenced April 2 by federal Judge Susan Mollway.