Prosecutor’s office
theft investigatedEquipment including ammunition
was missing but has been found
at an investigator's home
City prosecutors and Honolulu police are conducting separate investigations into the possible theft of about $16,000 worth of prosecutor's office equipment, including 40,000 rounds of ammunition, according to sources familiar with the case.
Sources said most of the equipment was recovered on Dec. 22 at the Mililani Mauka home of Craig Whang, a supervising investigator at the prosecutor's office.
Prosecutor Peter Carlisle would not confirm details, but said his office's investigation began in October after an "internal complaint between civil service employees."
"We learned of a number of allegations that gave us concerns regarding a member or members of our staff," Carlisle said. "The areas of concern included 'questionable' purchase orders and unaccounted-for inventory."
The recovered equipment included boxes of ammunition, several guns, bulletproof vests and machinery to customize firearms, all of which Whang allegedly ordered through the prosecutor's office and was found in Whang's garage, according to sources, who asked not to be named because the investigations are ongoing.
The sources also said that Whang told authorities that he kept the equipment at his home because there was no room at the prosecutor's office, and therefore it was not secure there. However, the sources said, all the recovered equipment has since been placed in a secure room at the prosecutor's office.
Some of the recovered equipment was not standard issue for staff investigators, including:
>> .45-caliber ammunition, instead of the 9 mm ammunition issued to investigators.Carlisle did not provide details except that about 90 percent of the missing inventory has been recovered.
>> Retooling equipment used to customize firearms.
>> Flashlights that can be attached to the barrels of rifles.
>> Customized leather gun holsters.He also said that after a "preliminary in-house fact-finding investigation," his office determined the "possibility of criminal charges existed."
Carlisle said he contacted police Chief Lee Donohue to ask if the Honolulu Police Department's Internal Affairs Division could act as an outside agency to look into the matter. That investigation began in November.
Since then, Internal Affairs' investigation "did not reveal any clear-cut criminal violations, but mostly internal procedural violations," Carlisle said.
"It also suggested that we adopt more stringent guidelines and/or procedures to safeguard law enforcement equipment," he said.
Sources familiar with the probe said that Internal Affairs is still investigating and that the preliminary investigation's findings and suggestion came before the missing equipment was recovered.
Whang, who has worked at the city prosecutor's office since 1992, has been on paid administrative stress leave for the past two months, according to sources. Since Whang is on leave, investigators have been unable to interview him, the sources said.
Carlisle would not say whether the police investigation was complete, but did say that Internal Affairs only provided a "preliminary assessment" so far.
An HPD spokeswoman referred all questions about the investigation to the prosecutor's office.
"If they come back and say, 'There's a crime here,' I would refer it to an external entity immediately," Carlisle said. "We're not sitting on this."
Whang's mother, Jean Patterson, is also employed at the prosecutor's office as one of two executive assistants to Carlisle. Last week, officials with the city Internal Control Division interviewed members of the prosecutor's office staff, including Whang's mother, in their own investigation, according to sources.
Efforts to contact Whang were unsuccessful. The prosecutor's office did not respond to a request to interview Patterson.
The prosecutor's office has 18 sworn investigators of 23 available positions within the Investigative Services Division. All of the investigators have the same powers of arrest as police and carry firearms.
Their duties include finding witnesses and defendants in cases, enforcing contempt warrants, executing search warrants and gathering and processing evidence for trial purposes.
Carlisle said his investigators are trustworthy individuals whose work is invaluable to the department.
"They're doing a stellar job of what we need them to do," he said.