RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Lisa Otsuka appeared today with a public defender before Judge Dan Kochi in state Circuit Court for arraignment.

Witness linked to
Harris pleads
not guilty to theft

Lisa Otsuka says she did not steal
$3,000 from a Wahiawa nonprofit group

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By Rick Daysog
rdaysog@starbulletin.com

A key witness in an Oahu grand jury's investigation into Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris' political campaign pleaded not guilty today to a charge that she stole $3,000 from a Wahiawa nonprofit group.

Lisa-Katherine Otsuka appeared before state Circuit Judge Dan Kochi for her arraignment and plea on a second-degree theft charge.

Kochi set her trial for the week of Dec. 9.

The 32-year-old former Miss Maui said she's surprised that she's been thrust into the campaign finance controversy surrounding the Harris campaign. But she said she plans to testify before the grand jury when it next meets on Oct. 17.

Otsuka, who said she is unemployed, added that she does not know Harris or his wife Ramona Harris.

"I'm totally shocked by everything," Otsuka said. "I want so badly to be able to tell my story but I can't."

Otsuka was arrested Sept. 9 for failing to appear at a grand jury hearing last month. The Prosecutor's Office is investigating more than $75,000 in expenditures by the Harris campaign that wound up in Otsuka's bank account.

In the theft case, prosecutors alleged that Otsuka took money from a Wahiawa nonprofit group called Manutahi, which organized an April 1, 2001 fundraiser at the Ocean Club.

Manutahi held the fundraiser to pay for middle school and high school students to attend a Tahitian dance competition on Maui.

Otsuka allegedly organized the fundraiser and collected the proceeds but did not turn over the money to Manutahi, prosecutors said. Manutahi wound up taking out a bank loan to pay for students' travel.

Harris has said that he has never met Otsuka. William McCorriston, Harris' attorney, said Otsuka has no relationship with the campaign.

In addition to the theft and grand jury investigation, Otsuka's record includes an arrest in Waikiki on Aug. 15 on suspicion of promoting prostitution. She was not charged in the Aug. 15 arrest.

Otsuka, a 1987 Baldwin High School graduate, is a former Miss Maui but was stripped of the title when pageant organizers raised questions about her high school transcripts.