Police Beat
Advertiser Staff
Assault suspected in infant's injury
Police have opened an assault investigation involving a 2-month-old boy diagnosed with a broken rib this week.
Police said the infant was brought into the emergency room at Kapi'olani Medical Center on Monday for a cold. A chest X-ray was reported normal, and the mother and child were released. However, a followup by a radiologist revealed the infant had a fractured rib.
HPD officer charged in sex assault
A Honolulu police officer accused of sexually assaulting a woman on the North Shore while on duty was indicted yesterday by an O'ahu grand jury.
Jerry A. Gallardo, 33, is charged with one count of second-degree sexual assault, and six counts of fourth-degree sexual assault. Bail was set at $50,000.
According to the city prosecutor's office, Gallardo forced himself on the 46-year-old woman Sept. 30 while he was taking information about her runaway son. The assault took place at the home of the woman's friend, officials said.
The attack was reported to police on Oct. 13, police said.
Deputy Police Chief Robert Au previously said Gallardo has been with the department for a year and a half and was assigned to Wahiawa.
A police spokeswoman yesterday said an internal administrative investigation is under way. Gallardo, a Salt Lake resident, could not be reached for comment.
Police investigate kickback scheme
A former Honolulu Police Department vehicle maintenance supervisor is under investigation in connection with kickbacks made in exchange for buying parts from unauthorized local dealers.
Investigators say the scheme began sometime before 1992, when police moved to the headquarters building from Pawa'a, until 1999. The supervisor set up a parts inventory section stocked with items purchased at inflated prices from companies not on the city's approved list, the investigators said. In exchange, kickbacks were given in the form of cash and Las Vegas trips.
Capt. Daniel Hanagami of the Criminal Investigation Division headed the investigation, which uncovered evidence of false billings and money laundering.
Prosecutors expect to present the case to the O'ahu grand jury.
Several others are reportedly targeted for indictment.
Tourist dies in fall from hotel lanai
A 58-year-old Japanese tourist died Wednesday night after he fell from the 32nd floor of a Waikiki hotel, police said.
The fall, at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki on Kalakaua Avenue, was witnessed by the man's wife and a room service waiter.
Police said the couple had dinner on their hotel room lanai. At about 9:50 p.m., the man developed a cramp in his leg while standing near the balcony railing. He stood on his chair, lost his balance and fell over the railing.
There were no signs of foul play, police said.
Man held in identity theft
Federal authorities are holding a 24-year-old man in connection with an identity-theft scheme involving purchases made on the Internet.
Police arrested the man, who has no local address, on Kalakaua Boulevard at 3:05 p.m. Wednesday on suspicion of buying merchandise online using stolen credit card numbers.
Search for bones turns up nothing
Police who searched in vain Wednesday for a bag of human bones in the West Loch area issued an appeal yesterday for more specific information from the anonymous caller who said he had found the bones on a trail.
Officer Phil Camero of the Missing Persons Detail also asked anyone else who might have spotted the bag to call his office at 529-3394, or call 911 or the CrimeStoppers hot line at 955-8300.
The man called CrimeStoppers and said he had been hiking in the West Loch area when he came across a beige bag and found human skeletal remains in it.
A police helicopter and personnel from police homicide/missing persons, the Medical Examiner's Office searched an area of more than 200 acres but found nothing.
Man charged in gun possession
A man who police said was found asleep in a car in Wai'anae two weeks ago with a loaded assault rifle next to him now faces a federal weapons charge.
According to an affidavit filed by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms special agent Ty Kaipo Torco, a man identified as Albert McDougall IV was found sleeping in a black Chevrolet Camaro March 13 alongside Farrington Highway.
When the officer rolled up on the scene, he found the car's engine running, and McDougall asleep in the driver's seat.
The officer noticed "in plain view, an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle, with a magazine inserted, on the front passenger's seat" next to McDougall.
McDougall was convicted in state court in November 1999 first-degree terroristic threatening and having a firearm in an improper place, according to Torco's affidavit. He was charged Wednesday under a section of federal law that prohibits felons from being in possession of a firearm.
Woman charged in embezzlement
An O'ahu woman was indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday on charges accusing her of stealing approximately $148,000 from two different medical services billing companies she worked for between April 1997 and December 1999.
The 42-count indictment alleges Abigail Paulino stole almost $87,000 from Tri-Star Health Care by signing over checks made out to the company to her own account, and about $61,000 from the Physicians Administrative Services company.
