Posted on: Wednesday, May 1, 2002
Homeowner to fight seizure by state
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
The owner of a Kalihi home that police have targeted for forfeiture said yesterday he plans to challenge the seizure attempt, saying police exaggerated reports of drugs and gambling on his property.
On Friday night, about 60 police officers raided 686 Bannister St. and arrested 25 people on suspicion of gambling and drug violations and on bench warrants, said Maj. Darryl Perry of the narcotics/vice division.
They recovered nearly $2,500, 74 metal cockfighting gaffs, crystal methamphetamine, drug pipes and some gambling devices, Perry said.
Police said the house, mauka of the O'ahu Community Correctional Center, has long been known as the best cockfighting arena in Honolulu, and the house has been raided at least four times.
No cockfighting was going on during the raid, and the owner was not arrested, Perry said.
Police want to seize the house, and noted it would be the first to be forfeited to the state, Perry said.
Elliott Johnson, 68, said yesterday that he had no knowledge of illegal drugs on his property, that he had stopped cockfighting games there, and that he would suspend his twice-weekly poker and rummy games played for nickels, quarters and half dollars.
"Everybody has different activities," Johnson said. "It just so happens gambling is one of my activities that I like. I don't think anybody has the right to tell me what to do, how to live."
Johnson said his two sisters, a sister-in-law and he own shares in the property. He said he plans to fight any attempts to seize his property, and has hired attorney Hayden Aluli.
Johnson said he keeps chicken coops in his 6,000-square-foot yard and his two-story, six-bedroom, two-bath home operates as a homeless haven and living quarters for his immediate family, including a 5-month-old baby.
"I have nothing to hide," he said. "My family and I do not (mess) around with drugs. That's the worst thing for me. I do not play with those things."
He said people who show up at his home are "good people," but some are homeless and he cannot search them.
He also said police were targeting him unfairly.
Last November, Leon R. Fernandez of Kane'ohe was killed and Eufracio Esmeralda was seriously injured in a beating on Bannister Street after a cockfight at the house, according to police.
"I know (police) don't like me because I'm a cockfighter," Johnson said. "They try to blame me about a person getting killed up the street."
He said he did not know the victims or assailants in the beating.
State law allows a house to be seized for certain offenses, including drugs, Perry said. In the Bannister Street case, authorities need to show the home has had a pattern consistent with drug distribution, and that the criminal enterprise is ongoing, Perry said.
Authorities also need to warn the owners the property is being used as a means to distribute drugs, Perry said.
After seizing property, 25 percent of its value goes to police, 25 percent goes to the prosecutor's office and 50 percent to the state attorney general's office fund, said Capt. Kevin Lima of narcotics/vice.
