Fugitive activist arrested on Big Island
By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Hawaiian-rights activist who was convicted of federal tax fraud in 1991 and who disappeared in 1993 after losing his appeal was captured yesterday in the Mountain View area of the Big Island by members of a newly formed Hawai'i Fugitive Task Force.
Nathan Brown, 49, was alone in the house where he was arrested, U.S. Attorney Edward Kubo said. Brown was being flown to O'ahu yesterday afternoon.
"We have been looking for Mr. Brown for the last 10 years," Kubo said.
Brown was at the center of criminal charges in the 1990s against longtime sovereignty activist Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele, once considered the most militant in the sovereignty movement. Kanahele was charged with blocking police from arresting Brown in Hau'ula in January 1994 and interfering with U.S. marshals trying to arrest Brown at Kanahele's home in Waimanalo two months later. Kanahele was sentenced in February 1998 to four months in prison and four months home detention for interfering with Brown's arrest.
When he was released from prison, Kanahele pledged to begin working within the system. He could not be reached yesterday for comment on Brown's capture.
Kubo would not specify what led the task force members to the Big Island home where Brown was found, saying federal officials have not yet finished their investigation.
Brown was convicted in June 1991 of several counts of filing false federal tax returns and was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison, Kubo said. Brown appealed the case and lost, but did not show up to begin serving his sentence.
"He's going to begin serving his 6 1/2 years," Kubo said. Brown will be housed at the Federal Detention Center near Honolulu International Airport until the federal Bureau of Prisons decides where to send him to begin serving his sentence.
Brown was found guilty of 18 felony counts having to do with the filing of false information with the Internal Revenue Service about public officials and falsely claiming tax refunds.
Brown was one of a number of people tried in federal court on charges accusing them of taking part in a bizarre scheme called the "Redemption" program.
Prosecutors said Redemption participants sent the IRS false information claiming they had paid government officials hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxable income and were due refunds.
The plan was designed to harass adversaries in their land disputes in Kahuku and Waimanalo, the government said.
Then-Gov. John Waihee, federal Judge David Ezra, then-U.S. Attorney Daniel Bent and then-Hawai'i Attorney General Warren Price took the stand during the trial and denied receiving any taxable income from the defendants.
At the time Brown was convicted, his attorney, Thomas Collins, said filing of the forms was "so ridiculous, they (group members) wouldn't have been able to mislead anyone."
Collins said the convictions of Brown and others involved in the scheme was an "unfortunate example of the way our court system reacts to the plight of Native Hawaiians."
Kubo said yesterday that the task force, made up of federal, state and county law enforcement officials, will concentrate on apprehending "fugitives having a criminal history including violent crimes, weapon offenses and drug offenses."
"I have always said that it is totally unacceptable to see people who have 14 prior convictions along with 50 or 60 prior arrests still roaming our streets," Kubo said.
