Coach indicted in Felix fraud inquiry

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

An O'ahu grand jury has indicted an assistant football coach at Kailua High School on charges that he billed the state for services to a special-needs student at the school that were never provided.

Johnson faces up to five years in prison on each of the 16 counts. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Deputy Attorney General Michael Parrish, who is handling the case, said the allegations against Johnson cover the period between April 5, 2001, and Jan. 17, 2002.

Although the indictment does not list an amount that Johnson received as a result of the alleged fraudulent activities, Parrish said at a bail hearing that investigators believe the total was about $4,500.

Bennett said it is the second criminal case stemming from the state's ongoing investigation of allegations of fraud related to the $1 billion the state has spent under the so-called Felix Consent Decree in an effort to improve services to special-education students.

Hawai'i's school system has been under the federal court's oversight since the state signed the decree in 1994, agreeing to improve special-education services, as required by law.

An O'ahu grand jury last May indicted therapeutic aide Susan Puapuaga on 10 counts of medical-assistance fraud for allegedly billing the state for about $1,800 worth of services that were not provided. She pleaded no contest to the charges in July.

State Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, co-chairwoman of a special House-Senate investigative committee that was organized in early 2001 amid growing concerns about how the consent decree money was being spent, said she expects many more criminal charges and civil lawsuits to result from the ongoing investigation.

One of the alleged practices brought to the committee's attention was that some therapeutic aides were using public money to take special-needs students to the movies or shopping, Hanabusa said.

Although they would take the students in groups of three or four, the state would be billed for each individual student.

"I'm not saying that is the situation in this case. The overall question is whether the services are actually reaching the students," Hanabusa said.

While federal Judge David Ezra last week denied a request from the investigative committee to reconsider his decision to quash a subpoena against a high-ranking member of a team of education experts who are helping the state overhaul its special-education program, Hanabusa said Ezra is largely supportive of the committee's efforts.

Hanabusa said Ezra has indicated he would allow at least some of the special-education experts to be questioned by the House-Senate committee if they are served with subpoenas that are sufficiently narrow in scope, Hanabusa said.