Residents accused in identity, mail theft
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
Four Hawai'i residents have been indicted in the past 10 days on federal mail or identity theft charges as part of an ongoing enforcement effort here and on the Mainland, U.S. attorney for Hawai'i Ed Kubo said yesterday.
On June 10, Regina Kampfer of Wahiawa was indicted on 16 counts of mail fraud, identity theft and credit card fraud, while Kim Burrows of Wai'anae was indicted on nine counts of credit card fraud in the "Operation Mail Safe" campaign.
The indictment contends that Kampfer, 33, obtained a list of the names and Social Security numbers of numerous employees of a business and used the Internet to gather additional personal information about them.
Kampfer then applied for credit over the Internet using the names of the people on the list, bought merchandise in their names and had the goods sent to her in the mail or delivered via Federal Express or UPS, the indictment said.
Kampfer worked in concert with Burrows, 33, who took down the credit card numbers of more than 45 customers of the business where she worked, the indictment said. She is accused of giving the numbers as well as the customers' names, addresses and telephone numbers to Kampfer, who used the information to purchase goods.
Kampfer faces 10 to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 on each of the 16 counts, while Burrows faces a maximum of 10 to 15 years and fine of up to $250,000 on each of the nine counts against her.
Also on June 10, Karson Kuewa, a former civilian mail clerk at Pearl Harbor, was indicted on two counts of mail theft. Kuewa is accused of stealing mail to and from crew members on ships and submarines assigned to Pearl Harbor. He faces up to five years in prison and fine of up to $250,000, Kubo said.
In a third case, John Wilkerson was indicted June 12 on two counts of breaking into two separate post offices on Maui on March 25 with the intent to commit larceny.
Wilkerson, John Suter and Theresa Naavao were charged with destroying mail that had been at a U.S. post office before delivery.
