Guilty plea deferred in money theft case

Advertiser Staff

A man who pleaded guilty to theft and other charges for his role in helping former city housing official Michael Kahapea steal money in a relocation scam has been given a chance to have his case dropped.

Circuit Judge Wilfred Watanabe on Wednesday deferred accepting a guilty plea by Richard C.H. Chung on first-degree theft, forgery and money laundering charges for five years, meaning if Chung stays out of trouble for that period, he will not have a criminal record.

Chung was the last of the defendants involved in Kahapea's relocation scams to be sentenced or to obtain deferrals of no-contest or guilty pleas.

The case related to Kahapea stealing relocation money for the development of a bus maintenance facility on Middle Street.

City Deputy Prosecutor Randal Lee said that in the early 1990s Kahapea steered about $600,000 in city contracts through RC Movers, which was owned by Chung, to move a meat-packing company, but the work was never done. In return, Chung funneled most of the money back to Kahapea, but kept about $69,000 for himself, which he repaid to the city in 1999, Lee said.

Kahapea is serving a 50-year sentence after being found guilty last year of stealing about $5.6 million from the city's 'Ewa Villages revitalization project. He was later sentenced to a concurrent 10-year term after pleading no contest to stealing money from three other city housing projects.