Posted on: Friday, April 13, 2001

Civilian workers at HPD indicted

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

Two former civilian employees of the Honolulu Police Department were indicted by an O'ahu grand jury yesterday for allegedly devising a scheme to overcharge the city at least $25,000 over a six-year period for automotive repair parts and diverting another $10,000 worth of parts bought with city money for their own use.

Named in the eight-count indictment were Victor Hasebe, an automotive equipment superintendent who last worked for the Police Department in September 2000, and Winston Owan, a storekeeper who worked for the department until earlier this month.

Each of the men was charged with one count of first-degree theft, two counts of second-degree theft, one count of money laundering, three counts of bribery and one count of unlawful ownership or operation of a business.

Hasebe's attorney, Clifford Hunt, said he had not yet seen the indictment and declined to comment. Owan's attorney, Richard Hoke, could not be reached to comment yesterday.

Randal Lee, the city deputy prosecutor handling the case, said the two men allegedly formed an arrangement with Larry's Auto Parts in Kaimuki to substantially overprice the goods sold to the city to maintain police vehicles. Those parts included motor oil, transmission fluid, oil and transmission filters, air filters, spark plugs and other routine maintenance items.

In return, the parts store provided "kickbacks" to Hasebe and Owan in cash, parts and travel, Lee said.

The store paid for at least two trips to Las Vegas for Hasebe and his guests and one trip to Las Vegas for Owan and guests, Lee said.

In addition to the kickback scheme, Lee said Owan and Hasebe are also accused of falsifying invoices to have the city pay for about $10,000 worth of high performance automobile parts that were never used on HPD vehicles, but which went to the two men, instead, for their own use.

While Owan and Hasebe were indicted on theft charges accusing them of stealing approximately $35,000 from the city, Lee said investigators believe the Honolulu Police Department purchased more than $800,000 from Larry's Auto Parts from July 1993 to August 1999 at prices that were inflated by about 30 percent.

That would put the overall loss to the city at about $240,000, Lee said. But selling goods to the city at inflated prices — in and of itself — is not crime, Lee said.

At least two employees of the auto parts store will also be prosecuted in the case, Lee said. The auto parts store employees could not be reached yesterday to comment.

Police Chief Lee Donohue declined to comment on the matter.