Financial expert faces federal gun charges

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

The president of a local credit counseling service and his wife are awaiting trial on federal firearm charges that accuse the pair of possessing 15 rifles and handguns while both were "unlawful users of a controlled substance."

Michael C. Haxton, president of Hawai'i Credit Counseling Service and a recognized personal financial expert, and his wife, Yvonne B. Haxton, were indicted by a federal grand jury Feb. 7.

The charge against the Haxtons was tacked onto the end of a pre-existing 12-count indictment that charged a Hawai'i man and two men from Mexico with importing heroin and cocaine from Mexico to Hawai'i, with plans to distribute the drugs here.

The counseling service was not named in the indictment.

The Haxtons referred questions about the case to Sam King Jr., Yvonne Haxton's lawyer, who said his client rented a house to one of the three men named in the indictment on drug charges.

Amending the original indictment to accuse the Haxtons of a federal firearms violation amounts to "a hyper-technicality," King said.

While the indictment accuses the Haxtons of being unlawful users of a controlled substance on Dec. 20, 2000, the charge is apparently based on statements made to investigators and was not something proven at trial, King said.

He said Michael Haxton is a gun collector and had properly registered most, if not all of the firearms identified in the indictment, which lists nine handguns and six rifles.

The indictment charges that the Haxtons' alleged drug use made it illegal for them to either possess the guns or purchase a firearm that had been transported here from somewhere else.

Chris Thomas, the assistant U.S. attorney handling the case, declined to say what, if any, connection there is between the Haxtons and the other defendants named in the indictment.