Police cellblock food investigation widens
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
A cellblock food scandal that has rocked the Honolulu Police Department has widened to include several others who have agreed to plead guilty to theft charges and cooperate with investigators, deputy prosecutor Randal Lee said yesterday.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
He declined to reveal whether the accused were police officers, but said a civilian food service worker at the Police Department already arrested in connection with the scandal will be charged with theft and that additional suspects may also be charged. A second food service worker has been arrested but will not be charged in exchange for his cooperation with prosecutors.
Attorney Howard Luke fields media questions for his client, Assistant Police Chief Rafael Fajardo Jr.
"The investigation is ongoing, and we are looking at other individuals," Lee said.
Lee declined to say whether Police Chief Lee Donohue and members of his command staff had been cleared of suspicion.
"The bottom line is that no one is given the right or authority to violate the law," he said.
Assistant Police Chief Rafael Fajardo Jr., the highest-ranking Honolulu officer ever indicted for a felony, pleaded not guilty in Circuit Court yesterday to a charge of second-degree theft. His trial is set for Oct. 29 before Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto.
Fajardo, 59, and Maj. Jeffrey Owens, 50, are accused of buying meals for police officers using money intended to feed prisoners detained at police headquarters.
Fajardo declined to comment on the charges, but his attorney, Howard Luke, said Fajardo "categorically denies allegations that he stole anything from the city and county of Honolulu, the Police Department and the taxpayers."
The misuse of money allegedly occurred between 1995 and 2000, when Fajardo, and later Owens, were in charge of the central receiving division, where most people arrested on O'ahu are booked.
On Monday, Owens also pleaded not guilty to second-degree theft, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. His trial is set for Oct. 29 as well.
Union backs chief
Donohue has admitted that he and many other officers ate some of the meals in question, but said he had no idea they had been purchased improperly.
The State of Hawai'i Organization of Police Officers said yesterday that the union had full confidence in Donohue. The chairman of SHOPO's O'ahu chapter, Detective Alex Garcia, had called last weekend for Donohue to resign, and for rank-and-file officers to conduct a vote of no confidence against the chief.
The comments angered some current and former officers who back Donohue. In a statement released yesterday, SHOPO president Lt. Dennis Kunitake called Garcia's statements "unnecessary" and said no vote would be taken.
"A poll of this nature could occur when police officers feel they can no longer serve under their chief because they lack confidence in his ability to lead," the statement said.
"This is not the case regarding Chief Donohue, who has maintained an excellent working relationship with SHOPO and has acknowledged, recognized and resolved labor issues affecting police officers throughout the state."
Garcia said he had no further comment on the matter.
Fajardo is the former business partner of Walter H. Miura, whose family runs a catering company that has supplied the department with dozens of breakfasts on several occasions over the past five years.
Luke said Fajardo had sometimes paid for food that was served to officers at the receiving desk and that top police brass had been invited to share them to boost morale.
Luke said Fajardo had no financial interest in any business that supplied food to the Police Department. He suggested that people who have implicated Fajardo are not telling the whole story.
"I am absolutely certain that there are individuals who may have a motive to be less than completely honest in this case," Luke said.
But Lee said the facts will speak for themselves.
"Once the evidence comes out at trial, the public will see the abuse of power these high-ranking officers took advantage of, and the atrocious amount of money that was taken from the taxpayers," he said.
Lee would not say whether the indicted officers were accused of profiting from the alleged diversion of money.
No record of purchase
The Police Department says it has no record of buying food from the catering company, but has declined to release its purchasing invoices because they are part of the investigation. Miura's attorney, Michael Green, said the meals were sometimes donated, and at other times were sold to officers for a fee of $2 or $3 per meal.
A police spokeswoman could not immediately say whether Donohue had authorized the department to accept any free meals during his tenure as chief, which began in 1997. Former Chief Michael Nakamura, who preceded Donohue, said he had not "officially" approved the acceptance of any meals.
"I know meals came in, but I assumed they were coming from Fajardo and his partner Walter (Miura)," and that they presented no ethical problems, Nakamura said.
Nakamura said he and other officers sometimes ate breakfast on workdays at Angelica's, a restaurant the Miura family's catering company used to run, and would not always pay for the meals.
"Maybe two or three times Walter picked up the tab, but we would leave an extra large tip for the waiters to reconcile that," Nakamura said.
Police rules and city regulations forbid officers from soliciting or accepting gifts from any person or businesses against whom they enforce the law. The rules extend to food, drinks and other items, even if offered at a discount during off-duty hours or through an intermediary working in the same department, said attorney Charles Totto, the city ethics commission director.
The rules are in place because gifts can be intended to influence how official duties are performed, or can give that appearance, he said.
Totto said he would ask the five-member commission to decide whether to investigate if meals were improperly accepted by the Police Department. Any member of the public can trigger such an investigation by filing a signed complaint that includes specific allegations, he said.
An ethics commission probe could come only after the criminal case and internal Police Department investigation are concluded, Totto said.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.
