HPD officer accused of hypocrisy in food scam
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Honolulu police major who blew the whistle on an alleged illegal food scam at the police headquarters cellblock directed a questionable food roundup of his own while he was in charge of police on the Wai'anae coast, according to a veteran officer who served under him.
Maj. Gordon Young personally directed officers to solicit free or highly discounted food, door prizes and other items from Wai'anae merchants for a 1999 Christmas party for District 8 officers, according to Lt. John Pinero, who was with the police department nearly 32 years. Pinero also said that officers of the crime reduction unit and community policing team assisted in preparations for the party while on duty.
"I had some problems with the methods that were used so I refused to participate and I didn't attend the party," Pinero said. "He's being a hypocrite to complain about something going on at the cellblock when he was doing the same kind of thing himself."
Young, now retired, declined to comment on the allegation, or on Pinero's charge that Young had ordered on-duty officers to drive him to Honolulu to retrieve his car and trailer when he would sail a boat to Wai'anae while off duty.
After Young was transferred to police headquarters and put in charge of the Central Receiving Division last year, he touched off an investigation that led to the felony theft indictments 12 days ago of Assistant Chief Rafael Fajardo Jr. and Maj. Jeffrey Owens.
Soliciting of food denied
The officers are accused of buying food for officers with money that was supposed to pay for prisoners' meals. Fajardo, 59, and Owens, 50, have pleaded not guilty to second degree theft and are scheduled to stand trial Oct. 29. They each face up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
A civilian police department food service worker also will be charged with theft and other suspects have agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with investigators as the probe continues, according to Deputy Prosecutor Randal Lee.
Pinero said Young, who formerly headed the department's finance division, had told him while at District 8 that he knew about the alleged illegal food purchases at police headquarters long before he was transferred to central receiving, where arrested suspects are booked and held in a cellblock.
"Why did he wait so long to come forward?" Pinero asked.
Young declined to say when he first discovered the alleged food scam.
"I saw something that appeared to be wrong, and I reported it," Young said.
Pinero said he is not a friend of Owens or Fajardo and is not trying to help them by criticizing Young.
"Gordon Young, I never had anything against him until he became a cry baby," Pinero said.
Maj. Alan Fujimoto, who now heads District 8, said he did not believe that Honolulu officers solicit free food, and that those who patrol Wai'anae definitely do not.
"I have not heard that's common, and we don't do it in District 8," he said.
Several Leeward coast merchants were reluctant to talk about whether officers had solicited food from them. Carl Okimoto, a manager of Wai'anae Store, said he had not been solicited and that a long business slump would make it difficult to contribute anyway.
"Business is so bad, cannot," he said. "If I had anything to donate, I'd donate it to the schools. They need it more."
Free breakfasts supplied
Walter Miura, a former business partner of Fajardo whose family owns a catering company, supplied numerous free breakfasts to officers at police headquarters during the past five years, according to his attorney.
But police rules and city regulations forbid officers from soliciting or accepting gifts from any person or businesses against whom they enforce the law. To deter favoritism or the appearance of it, officers are also not supposed to accept discounts that are not offered to the general public, even while off duty.
A police spokeswoman said the department has no record of purchasing meals from the catering company, but could not say whether Chief Lee Donohue had authorized the department to accept free meals. Donohue was unavailable for comment, and his spokeswoman said he would be out of the office until today.
Federal court records show Miura filed for bankruptcy in 1997 while he owed $139,000 in state taxes. His attorney could not be reached for comment, and it remains unclear whether he donated meals to the police department during the time his bankruptcy case was open. The case closed in 1999, records show.
Reach Johnny Brannon at 535-2431 or jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com.
