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Recycling supervisor facing bribe charges

A supervisor at the Pearl Harbor recycling program faces federal charges of accepting bribes in connection with the unauthorized sale of recyclable materials.

Robert Cruz Aguigui was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court with four counts of bribery that occurred between June 2002 to October 2003.

The complaint alleges he received money from four individuals identified only by their initials, including an undercover agent.

One of the charges includes accepting money in the awarding of a Navy Recycling Program contract, "bypassing the competitive bid process and understating the amount of scrap metal agreed to be provided," the complaint said.

Aguigui could not be reached for comment.

New project to benefit special-needs children

Legal Aid Society of Hawaii has started a project to help more families receive Social Security Disability benefits for special-needs children.

The organization received a grant from the Legislature to try to reach more families because Hawaii has one of the nation's lowest rates of families receiving such benefits.

The program will include a statewide education and outreach effort. Legal Aid will help income-eligible children and families with the application process which it said the Social Security Administration admits "can be confusing and unwieldy."

Additional income of about $565 a month in benefits can make a huge impact on the quality of life of working and low-income families with a special-needs child, Legal Aid said.

Families are urged to contact Legal Aid to see if they are eligible for benefits or if they feel they have been wrongfully denied benefits through the application process and would like to appeal.

For more information, call Legal Aid at 527-8065 or toll free, 1-800-499-4302, ext., 265, for neighbor islanders.

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» The Aloha Shoyu Company has awarded $500 scholarships to Kasie Carvalho and Krystal Sedino, who formerly benefited from the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring programs. Carvalho graduated from Aiea High and Sedino graduated from McKinley.

» The Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific Foundation has awarded its D. Lau Family Scholarship to five employees in the nursing program at Kapiolani Community College: Lillia Duran, Madeline Constantino, Shonna Moscho, Melodie Ocol and Lita Caralos. Once they receive their degrees they will return to work at the hospital.

» Michael Dannemiller has been awarded the 2004 McDonald's Restaurants of Hawaii Employee Scholarship. He graduated from Punahou last spring and began his freshman year at De Paul University in Chicago last fall, majoring in computer science.

» Ronald Nakagawa, an architect with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Brooke Bingaman, a meteorology major at the University of Hawaii, were named the Cooperative Education Supervisor and Student of the Year, respectively, by the university. Cooperative Education integrates classroom study with paid, planned and supervised work.

» Cari Urabi of Mililani, a junior at Eastern Washington University, was been awarded a $1,000 Associated Students of EWU Scholarship, and a $2,000 Student Affairs Fellowship for the 2004-2005 academic year. She is majoring in communications and minoring in business.

Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

HONOLULU
Family tax dispute leads to alleged knife threat

Police said they arrested a 66-year-old Kalihi man who allegedly threatened his 25-year-old daughter with knives after she tried to pacify him as he argued with his wife about their taxes.

Police said the man and his wife were arguing at 9 p.m. Thursday, when their daughter tried to calm him down. The man went to the kitchen, got a pair of knives and threatened to kill his daughter, according to police.

Police were called and the man was arrested for suspicion of first-degree terroristic threatening.

Video aids in arrest of burglary suspect

Police arrested a burglary suspect who was caught on video surveillance March 9 at a Kapiolani Boulevard condominium.

A 42-year-old man turned himself in Wednesday after a CrimeStoppers bulletin was issued. Police said the suspect broke into the security office at Kapiolani Gardens, 2439 Kapiolani Blvd., and stole security radios and equipment. The suspect was released pending investigation.

EAST OAHU
Phone scammers find man, 81, irresistible

If at first telephone scam artists do not succeed, they try and try again, police warn.

Honolulu police said an 81-year-old Hawaii Kai man was apparently targeted by telephone con artists several times since the start of the year.

The callers pitched different scams, but the intended victim never took the bait, police said.

One female caller told the man he had received a $5,000 federal grant to be used for any purpose. When the man told the caller he never applied for a grant, the woman said he had been chosen to "stimulate the economy."

Two other callers offered ways to erase electronic information about the man's checking account.

The man reported the incidents to CrimeStoppers.

Police warn if con artists call once, they may call with a different scam. Police advise people not to confirm any bank information over the phone, and if feeling pressured, hang up, police say.

LEEWARD OAHU
Fire damages units in state-owned building

Fire damaged an upstairs unit of a boarded-up, two-story apartment building in Waianae.

Seven fire companies responded to the two-alarm fire, which started just before 7 p.m. yesterday. The fire was at the state-owned Uluwehi Apartments next to Waianae Middle School. Firefighters had the fire under control by 7:03 p.m.

The fire burned 25 percent of the empty unit, said fire Capt. Emmit Kane. He said police saw a youth running from the scene. The cause was under investigation.