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Newswatch
Police, Fire, Courts

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Friday, August 4, 2000

Man gets probation for theft
of unemployment benefits

Mark A. Vanderford, 37, has been placed on probation for five years on three counts of second-degree theft related to unemployment benefits the state said he fraudulently obtained.

Circuit Judge Marie Milks sentenced him on July 13.

Vanderford was ordered to pay $14,248 in restoration to the state and undergo drug and alcohol assessment and treatment. He also was ordered to obtain full-time employment or attend a full-time vocational training program.

Milks ordered Vanderford to return to court Oct. 17 for review of his compliance with terms and conditions of his probation. She warned him noncompliance would mean incarceration.

The state, which began to investigate Vanderford in 1999, found he fraudulently applied for unemployment benefits when employed full-time as a painter earning about $1,000 a week. Vanderford made the fraudulent unemployment applications to cover sports gambling losses, the state said.

Dailies can't intervene
in news rack suit

A federal magistrate has blocked Honolulu's two daily newspapers from intervening in a discrimination lawsuit filed by the Honolulu Weekly against the city for requiring free publications to be placed in smaller, non-coin operated news racks in Waikiki.

U.S. Magistrate Leslie Kobayashi ruled that Liberty Newspapers LLP and Gannett Pacific Corp.'s motion to intervene was "untimely" and will cause prejudice to the plaintiffs.

Any prejudice to the daily newspapers could be attributed to their failure to intervene earlier, Kobayashi noted.

Honolulu Weekly filed its suit Nov. 15, 1999. U.S. District Judge Susan Mollway granted the plaintiffs a temporary restraining order four days later and a preliminary injunction on Dec. 17.

Liberty and Gannett did not file their motion until June and offered little explanation as to why they didn't intervene earlier, Kobayashi noted in yesterday's ruling.

Under Mollway's order, Honolulu Weekly won the right to use coin-operated news racks.

The city had earlier denied the Weekly permits for 21 coin-operated racks because it doesn't charge for its publication.

Chief Justice Moon
appoints 5 per diem judges

New Honolulu District Court per diem judges appointed by Chief Justice Ronald T.Y. Moon are Lawrence R. Cohen, Lono J. Lee, Clarence A. Pacarro, Nancy Ryan and Gregg Young.

Their one-year terms began July 18.

Cohen, Lee and Ryan received law degrees from the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii. Pacarro won his law degree from Lewis and Clark Law School and Young received his law degree from the California Western School of Law.

All five new per diem judges are attorneys in private practice.

Kahapea theft counts
merged for sentencing

Michael Kahapea was convicted Wednesday of 43 counts, including 22 counts of theft, for stealing $5.8 million from the Ewa Villages relocation fund, but he will be sentenced on only 12 counts of theft.

Judge Rey Graulty agreed today to merge 10 theft counts that involved the same act. By law, defendants cannot be sentenced for more than one offense that involves the same act. Defense attorney Don Wilkerson had asked that the counts be dismissed, rather than merged.

Kahapea, a former city housing official, also faces sentencing on 11 counts of forgery, five counts of unlawful ownership of a business, two counts of money laundering, two counts of failure to report income and one count of bribery.

Deputy prosecutor Randal Lee said of 20 theft counts, 10 were charged in the alternative -- either theft by unauthorized control or by deception.

The state charged Kahapea with both to prevent him from escaping liability on a technicality. Kahapea was in charge of the city's relocations so the jury could have said that, technically, he had authority over the money, Lee said.

The bottom line is Kahapea will spend a substantial amount of time in prison. "For all intents and purposes, the public hasn't been cheated," Lee said.

At the Sept. 28 sentencing, Lee expects to ask for extended and consecutive terms based on the multiple offenses and the seriousness of the crimes, which involved taxpayers' money.

Merging the theft counts is significant, Wilkerson said. On the theft counts only, Kahapea faces 10 years each, which could add up to 100 years if the court decides to sentence him consecutively.

And while it is highly unlikely that Kahapea will be able to repay the $5.8 million, Lee said he will seek restitution.

Computer stolen from Nanakuli Elementary

The school year has started on a down note at Nanakuli Elementary, thanks to a computer thief.

Yesterday was the first day of the school year, and someone broke into a sixth-grade Hawaiian Immersion classroom last night or early this morning and stole a Macintosh computer system, a radio-compact disc player and a cabinet with cubby holes used by the students to store belongings.

"It becomes an emotional and mental setback, not just for the teacher and classroom, but the whole Hawaiian Immersion program," said parent Lou-Ann Adams.

The thief got into the classroom by breaking the door knob.

Vice principal Wendy Takahashi said some students are afraid and others feel violated. The same classroom was broken into during the spring and someone stole ukuleles and a computer system.

Parents of the class had to raise money to buy the new computer, and students will have to go without a computer until another can be bought, school officials said.

Police this morning were investigating the burglary.

Tomorrow

Some events of interest

9 a.m., Parking lot behind Honolulu Police Dept. Headquarters: HPD to auction jewelry, cameras, stereo equipment, tools and other items. Cash only with no guarantees or warranties, all sales final. Jewelry viewing starts at 8 a.m.

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Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers

Care home resident charged in man's death

Police charged a 37-year-old man yesterday in connection with the death of an 81-year-old man at a Kalihi Valley care home.

Nolan Quintal was charged with manslaughter, police said. He is being held on $50,000 bail.

Quintal, a resident of the Gilo Care Home on Laelae Way, was arrested Wednesday after police discovered that he allegedly had punched his housemate the day before, causing the man's death, police said.

Quintal was initially arrested for second-degree murder, but police went with the manslaughter charge because it would be difficult to prove he "knowingly" tried to kill the victim with a single punch.

The victim was found unresponsive and was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed he died of "blunt trauma to the head and intercranial hemorrhage."

His identity was not released yesterday, pending notification of the family.

Age of bones at Kaena being tested at lab

Police are awaiting results from a military laboratory before opening an investigation into human skeletal remains found Tuesday at Kaena Point.

The bones were discovered in a sandbank, police said.

They appeared ancient, but the age has not been determined.

Police and state archaeologists went out again yesterday to recover more bones to send to the laboratory.

The bones were buried among some garbage that had been disposed of recently.

Investigators studying Waikiki apartment fire

Police arson detectives are investigating a blaze inside a Waikiki apartment last night.

The fire was reported in room 203 of the Hale Pua Nui at 9:50 p.m. and was contained soon after, police said. Witnesses said they heard arguing and saw a man run out of the unit just before the fire started.

Neighboring residents battled the blaze with fire extinguishers before fire crews arrived, police said.

The cause has not been determined. An investigation was initiated because of the circumstances, police said.

Damage was estimated at $25,000 to the structure and $5,000 to the contents.