Woman posts bail in theft case
Advertiser Staff
Subpoenaed grand jury witness Lisa Otsuka turned herself in to police yesterday afternoon, more than a week after she was indicted for allegedly stealing several thousand dollars from a Tahitian cultural group.
Courtesy of KGMB
Otsuka, 32, has been called to testify before an investigative grand jury probing Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign finances and the awarding of city contracts.
Lisa Otsuka said she was "grateful" she will have the opportunity to go to court. She declined to say where she had been since she was indicted.
She failed to appear before the grand jury on Sept. 5 and turned herself in days after a contempt of court warrant was issued.
While free on bail for that charge, Otsuka was indicted for the theft case. She was released yesterday after posting bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.
Otsuka, a former Maui beauty queen, was also arrested in August on suspicion of money laundering, promoting prostitution, and operating an illegal business, but she has not been charged with those offenses.
As she emerged from the police cellblock, Otsuka said she was "grateful that we live in America, and we have a presumption of innocence, and that I will have the opportunity to go to court."
She declined to say where she had been since she was indicted, or whether she had been involved in Harris' campaign.
She told police her address was a residence on Waimomona Place in 'Ewa, but court records show that she and a man were evicted weeks ago for not paying rent.
Investigators have questioned whether money from Harris' campaign ended up in Otsuka's bank account.
Harris and several top campaign officials have said they did not know Otsuka and that she played no official role in the campaign and received no direct payments from it.
A nonprofit scholarship foundation headed by Otsuka shared a mailing address with a consulting firm that was paid by the campaign, however.
The head of the firm, Harry Mattson, said earlier that Otsuka was not involved in the campaign, but that his "investment of personal resources in a legitimate business with someone he believed to be a successful entrepreneur has turned out otherwise."
The grand jury for the Harris case is scheduled to reconvene in mid-October. Otsuka's attorney has said he will advise her to refuse to testify unless she is granted immunity from prosecution.
