Five charged in Pearl City gambling

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

The city prosecutor's office yesterday charged five people, including two civilian police dispatchers, with running a gambling operation out of a Pearl City home.

Charged with first-degree promotion of gambling, a felony, were dispatchers James Ward and Trisha Takayesu, restaurant worker Ray Takeshita and public opinion research company employee Romeo Marzan Jr.

Iris Takeshita also a restaurant worker, was charged with five counts of second-degree promotion of gambling, a misdemeanor.

The five were arrested Sept. 28 after police searched a home on Ualo Street and found people gambling, gambling machines and cash.

Narcotics/vice Maj. Darryl Perry said police found a craps table, two video slot machines and another small gambling device and confiscated about $2,600 in cash.

The dispatchers have been re-assigned to non-dispatching duties, police spokeswoman Michelle Yu said. Ward served 14 years in the department, while Takayesu served six years, Yu said.

Police said at the time of the arrests that there was no evidence that other HPD employees were involved or that the two dispatchers engaged in the alleged illegal activity during work time, or did so on city property.

Perry said narcotics/vice transmissions are encrypted and are broadcast using secret codes, so he didn't think the dispatchers were privy to any information about police raids.

The five people charged in the case are scheduled to make their initial appearance in Circuit Court on Monday.