Posted on: Wednesday, May 16, 2001

Ex-Lahaina Harbor agent faces prison time for theft

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

WAILUKU, Maui — A former Lahaina Harbor agent faces up to six years in prison and $42,000 in fines for pocketing slip rental fees since 1996, and for registering a nonexistent vessel and assigning it to a permanent slip within the harbor.

Gerald Lum, 47, pleaded guilty yesterday to four counts of second-degree theft and one count of tampering with a governmental record.

Lum, an agent at Lahaina Harbor since July 1992, resigned his position with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources last week, three months after being arrested at the harbor following an investigation by the state Attorney General's Office.

Authorities said Lum stole rental fees paid to him by boaters using temporary slips within the harbor.

The state identified four boat owners who claimed they had been making cash payments averaging about $150 a month directly to Lum.

Lum admitted stealing slip rental fees from six different vessels. The loss in state rental revenue was determined to be more than $30,000.

The investigation found that in December Lum registered a vessel that does not exist and then assigned it to a permanent slip within the harbor.

Lum is scheduled to be sentenced July 12 before Maui Circuit Court Judge Shackley Raffetto.