Officer will fight
federal charges

The former UH baseball
player pleads not guilty
in a crystal meth case

A Honolulu police officer pleaded not guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to attempting to possess with intent to distribute what he allegedly believed was 18 to 20 pounds of crystal methamphetamine stolen from drug dealers.

Harold Cabbab Jr., a former University of Hawaii baseball player, appeared in federal court with court-appointed attorney David Klein, who entered the plea on his behalf.

U.S. Magistrate Leslie Kobayashi set trial for Feb. 23.

Cabbab, a 10-year officer who was most recently a patrolman in the Pearl City district, was indicted by a federal grand jury Dec. 22, two weeks after he was arrested by federal agents for allegedly breaking into a Makiki storage locker and making off with what he thought was crystal methamphetamine.

The "drugs" had been planted there by federal agents after a two-month investigation during which Cabbab allegedly discussed and planned with an acquaintance to rip off a drug shipment while posing as police officers. The unnamed acquaintance was working as a confidential informant for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

Klein had no comment on the charges.