Posted on: Friday, November 5, 2004

Campaign fund plea deal sought

Advertiser Staff

A former chief executive officer of an engineering firm pleaded no contest yesterday to money laundering and making political donations under false names.

But Larry K. Matsuo, 78, former CEO of Park Engineering, has asked Circuit Judge Richard Perkins to give him a chance to have the case dropped.

Matsuo is cooperating with authorities and is not contesting the charges of making the illegal political contributions from 1996 to 2001 to Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign, according to city Deputy Prosecutor Randal Lee.

Matsuo asked the judge to defer accepting the pleas and to allow the case to be dropped if Matsuo abides by conditions similar to probation. A person who pleads no contest is found guilty by the judge, unless the judge grants the deferral which could result in the dismissal and no finding of guilt.

Perkins set a hearing for Jan. 19 for the deferral request. If it is rejected, Matsuo would be found guilty and sentenced.

Lee said he opposes the deferral request, but will not ask that Matsuo serve any jail time.

Matsuo's lawyer Darwin Ching declined to comment.