HPD investigates
arsenal in MililaniAn investigator's home turns
up 40,000 rounds of ammunition
The Honolulu Police Department has initiated a criminal investigation into allegations of theft against a city prosecutor's investigator involving 40,000 rounds of ammunition.
Officials recovered the ammunition from the Mililani Mauka home of Craig Whang, a supervising investigator for the prosecutor's office, on Dec. 22. An estimated $16,000 worth of equipment stored there also included several guns and bulletproof vests, along with items that were not issued to office investigators, such as .45-caliber ammunition; retooling machinery used to customize firearms; and flashlights that can be attached to barrels of rifles, according to sources.
A Honolulu police spokeswoman would not comment on the case except to say that police are looking into three theft cases that have been referred to the white-collar crime unit. Sources said the offenses included two counts of second-degree theft, a felony and one misdemeanor theft.
Prosecutor's officials declined to comment on the police investigation.
Though officials from the prosecutor's office did not name Whang by name in the past, they previously confirmed that their office has been looking into the matter since October because of concerns about questionable purchase orders and unaccounted-for inventory. Whang's attorney said his client kept the ammunition there as part of his job, though he did not address the other items that were being stored in his garage.
"They can investigate all they want," Whang's attorney Michael Green said yesterday. "We know that he was given permission to store the ammunition there, and everyone knew for a long time that the items were there."
"The people at the (firing) range knew he was bringing large quantities of ammunition because he was the one who qualified other investigators for firearms use."
This is the second time the Police Department is looking into the Whang case. The first time was in November after city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle referred the case to the department's Internal Affairs Division as an outside investigator.
Although HPD officials acknowledged that this was the first time that Internal Affairs investigators were used to investigate a case outside the Police Department, Carlisle defended his actions, saying the investigators in his office have the same police powers as HPD officers, and therefore Internal Affairs would be the best suited for the job.
However, Carlisle said the Internal Affairs investigation resulted in no "clear-cut criminal violations, but mostly internal procedural violations."
"It also suggested that we adopt more stringent guidelines and/or procedures to safeguard law enforcement equipment," he said last month.
Sources said this latest investigation by HPD was referred by the prosecutor's office a week ago, after its own criminal investigation was complete.
However, Green maintains that the allegations against Whang are a result of his client making prior complaints about potential workplace violence within the prosecutor's office.
"The heart of this case right now is retaliation," Green said. "IA (Internal Affairs) has already taken a look at it and didn't find anything.
"We're certainly intending to file a lawsuit within 60 to 90 days against the state, the prosecutor's office and certain individuals. ... It's not going to be pretty.
"His career was destroyed over this."
Whang has been employed by the prosecutor's office since 1992 and is currently on paid administrative leave. Sources said he has been on stress leave for more than two months.
Whang's mother is also employed at the prosecutor's office as an executive assistant to Carlisle and also helped him with his campaign when he was elected in 1996. Whang also has his own process-serving business.