|
UH running back
changes theft plea
He agrees to cooperate in the
investigation of $126,000 stolen
from Kaiser Permanente
University of Hawaii running back West Keliikipi III pleaded no contest yesterday to defrauding Kaiser Permanente of $10,000 in a credit card scheme that prosecutors say involved several friends, his brother and a cousin.
Michael Green, attorney for Keliikipi, said he will ask the court to defer his plea so that his record remains clean.
Keliikipi, 24, who just completed his senior season as a UH running back, is one of eight defendants accused of taking $126,000 from Kaiser without its authorization. The group allegedly found a way to swipe their credit cards at Kaiser's Moanalua Medical Center machines and debiting their accounts in early 2002.
The friends initially were visiting friends or relatives at Moanalua when the scheme was allegedly hatched, prosecutors said.
Keliikipi changed his plea to second-degree theft as part of an agreement with prosecutors to testify against any remaining co-defendants and cooperate in an ongoing state investigation into auto insurance fraud.
Circuit Judge Richard Pollack will decide on the deferral or sentence Keliikipi on March 17.
Green said it was in his client's best interest to enter the agreement. If the court grants a deferral, he would better his chances of playing professional football.
"If he hadn't agreed to this, it would have affected his career," his attorney said.
In the courtroom, Green said it was never Keliikipi's idea to steal from anyone, and he had no idea Kaiser would be targeted. A woman who worked with Keliikipi and knew his family's financial situation offered him a loan, according to Green.
Green described Keliikipi as a "good young man" who received $10,000 without asking its source. But once he learned the money was stolen, he immediately gave police the keys to a $3,000 car he purchased from his grandmother, Green said.
"Everybody deserves a second chance. I've learned my lesson," Keliikipi said.
Outside the courtroom, deputy prosecutor Randal Lee disputed whether Keliikipi is as gullible as he claims to be.
Lee said bank records show Keliikipi withdrew $10,125.80 soon after it was deposited in his account. And when American Savings Bank notified him that the money was stolen, he did not return it.
"So he knew the funds were illegal, but he didn't do nothing to rectify the problem until Honolulu police arrested him," Lee said.
American Savings also contacted Kaiser, which began its own investigation, and spotted irregularities in moneys going out from its accounts, Lee said.
Other than the $3,000 to purchase a car, Lee could not say how Keliikipi or the others spent their money because they used cash transactions.
Three co-defendants -- Keliikipi's brother Winston, cousin Gordon Keliikipi and friend Justin Luhia -- have not gone to trial yet. Four others -- Luhia's girlfriend, Shantel Santa Isabel, and friends Jared Santiago, Coleen Spencer and Tasha Black -- have changed their pleas to either no contest or guilty, and are awaiting sentencing.
Keliikipi has agreed to pay restitution to Kaiser and perform 200 hours of community service. If the deferral is granted, he must stay out of trouble for five years and abide by court-imposed conditions before his record is cleared.
Green said Keliikipi is not involved in auto insurance fraud, but that the state is looking at other people he knows who might be. Colleen Chun, chief of the state's Insurance Fraud Investigation branch, confirmed Keliikipi will be assisting in one of their ongoing investigations, but declined to comment.
Keliikipi was suspended from the UH football team after he was indicted in April, but was later reinstated.
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