Suspects plead not guilty in Kaimuki robbery case
Isle entertainer Jeff Rasmussen pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges he forced a Kaimuki man at knifepoint to sign over ownership of his truck and two mopeds.Rasmussen and co-defendant Thomas Reed-Freimark had been charged with kidnapping and first-degree robbery in the Dec. 29 incident. Reed-Freimark, who was also charged with first-degree terroristic threatening, also pleaded not guilty via video from the Oahu Community Correctional Center.
Trial for the two was set for March 18. Reed-Freimark is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail. Rasmussen has posted a $50,000 bond and is free pending trial.
The two and another man allegedly showed up at a 19th Avenue home that day and forced the victim to sign the papers. Reed-Freimark allegedly struck the man in the face and threatened to kill him and his family if he did not comply.
The third man was arrested but released without charges.
Police say the victim had argued with Rasmussen over repairs he was supposed to have done on Rasmussen's car, according to investigators.
NEW AIRLINE SECURITY MEASURES
GO INTO EFFECTLocal officials report no snags in the
required screening of checked bags
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Mirikitani shows up to serve prison sentence
LAS VEGAS >> Former Honolulu City Councilman Andy Mirikitani surrendered yesterday at a minimum-security federal prison in Nevada to begin serving a sentence for public corruption.Jeryl Kochera, spokeswoman at the Nellis Federal Prison Camp, said Mirikitani turned himself in after noon. The 625-inmate camp is on the grounds of the vast Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas.
Mirikitani, 46, was to begin serving the four years and three months he was sentenced to on Dec. 6 following his July 3 conviction in U.S. District Court in Honolulu on theft, wire fraud, bribery and extortion charges.
His wife, Sharron Bynum, 52, was convicted of theft and extortion for aiding and abetting him. She and Mirikitani were married on Nov. 30.
She was sentenced to one year and nine months, and was to report yesterday to the Carswell Federal medical center in Fort Worth, Texas.
>> A stabbing Jan. 10 near Century Center took place in the parking lot next to the building, not in the building parking lot as reported Jan. 10 in the "Police/Fire" briefs on Page A4 and a follow-up story Monday on Page A5. Corrections and clarifications
>> Airlines in Hawaii will not use a chemical swab to inspect baggage for explosives, an Aloha Airlines employee said. A cotton swab, which has not been chemically treated, will be rubbed on baggage surfaces and then placed in a machine to test for traces of explosives. A Page A1 story yesterday incorrectly said chemicals would be used. The swab testing devices will be used at all Hawaii airports, but they will be the only device used in Hilo until an X-ray machine becomes available there.
>> Results on Page B7 Wednesday from a Mid-Pacific Road Runners Club event were from last year. Correct results are on today's Page B6. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Managing Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at fbridgewater@starbulletin.com.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
WAIKIKI
23-year-old man dies plunging from balcony
A 23-year-old man died after plunging from a 37th floor balcony at the Pacific Beach Hotel about just after midnight today.Witnesses told authorities the man was climbing from one balcony to another when he fell onto the Oceanarium tank.
LEEWARD OAHU
13-year-old arrested in sex assault on cousin
Honolulu police arrested a 13-year-old boy yesterday in a third-degree sexual assault case. According to police reports, the assault took place on Nov. 26 in the Waianae area.Police said the suspect placed his cousin, an 8-year-old girl, on a bed and began to sexually assault her when the victim's grandfather walked in the room.
The suspect has been released pending an investigation.
Maili man accused of assaulting police officer
A 38-year-old Maili man was arrested last night for allegedly assaulting a police officer who tried to pull him over for a traffic stop.Police said the man refused to stop until he arrived in front of his home on Manuoioi Place at about 9:40 p.m.
The suspect then walked up to the police car, reached in, punched, bit and gouged the officer, police said.
Other officers arrived and arrested the man for unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle and third-degree assault.
The officer was treated for minor injuries and released.
Kaneohe Marine questioned in robberies
Police believe the two men responsible for a string of armed robberies on Sunday struck again this morning and they are questioning a Kaneohe Marine in connection with the robberies.Police said two men wearing ski masks and brandishing handguns entered the Waipahu 7-Eleven store at 94-264 Farrington Highway just before 1 a.m., ordered the store clerks and a customer to the floor, took money and the customer's wallet and then fled on foot.
At 5:25 a.m. officers from the District One Crime Reduction Unit arrested a 20-year-old man at the main gate of the U.S. Marine base in Kaneohe on a firearm violation and were questioning him in connection with the robberies.
The description of the suspects in today's robbery is similar to that of the suspects in three armed robberies early Sunday.
On that day, a 61-year-old man was robbed at gunpoint at the Bank of Hawaii Waipahu Branch ATM at 94-712 Farrington Highway about 4 a.m. by a lone gunman.
Twenty minutes later two masked gunmen robbed the Pearl City Shell station at 98-080 Kamehameha Highway. And at 5 a.m., two masked gunmen robbed the Stadium Mall Chevron Food Mart at 4562 Salt Lake Boulevard. A surveillance camera captured that robbery on video.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Hilo man held in jail in attempted murder
HILO >> Big Island police are holding an 18-year-old Hilo man without bail as a suspect in an attempted murder on Dec. 23, they said.The suspect was arrested Wednesday at his mother's home on Ohai Street, the street where the attack took place.
His identity was known at the time of the attack on Franklin Matias, 29, but he fled the scene, police say.
Matias remains in a coma at Queen's Medical Center on Oahu, police said.
[THE COURTS]
Former golf course clerk cuts deal with prosecutor
Multiple bribery charges against a former clerk at the Ala Wai Golf Course who allegedly accepted payment from golfers for choice tee times are expected to be dropped in exchange for his plea to a single charge of racketeering.Lawrence Helekahi, who worked at the golf course for three years, waived indictment by a grand jury yesterday and pleaded not guilty to unlawful operation of a business, punishable by 10 years in prison. An agreement with the prosecutor's office is expected to be worked out in this case, Helekahi's attorney, Eric Seitz, told the court.
Helekahi was one of three people indicted last June in the bribery scheme.
He and former starter Janice Kakugawa, a 22-year city employee, allegedly had accepted $5 per person to let certain golfers play ahead of others, circumventing the city's automated phone-in reservation system and the daily wait list. Golfer Yong Cha Toyomura was charged with offering bribes.
Kakugawa and Toyomura both were sentenced to five years' probation, ordered to perform 250 hours of community service and banned from playing at any of the city's six courses during that period.
Kakugawa was also fined $15,000; Toyomura, $2,000.
Honolulu attorney pleads no contest to tax charges
Honolulu attorney Eric T. Maehara has entered a no-contest plea for filing false income tax returns for 1996 and 1997.Judge Karl Sakamoto accepted the plea agreement, in which Maehara is expected to repay $20,000 in tax refunds he fraudulently received, pay a $10,000 fine and perform 200 hours of community service.
Sakamoto also granted Maehara a deferred acceptance of his no-contest plea.
Maehara's sentencing is scheduled for April 23.
