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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 1:58 p.m., Monday, November 26, 2007

Hawaii judge sends con man to prison for 30 years

Advertiser Staff

Con man Timothy Janusz has been sent to prison for 30 years by a judge who told Janusz, "Hopefully you have ripped off your last senior citizen."

Janusz, 48, father of six children, asked Circuit Judge Steven Alm for mercy, blaming his crimes on pride and alcoholism and saying he has turned his life around and wants to make amends to his victims.

But Alm agreed with Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Van Marter, who called Janusz a predator who targeted elderly, vulnerable and trusting victims.

In September, Janusz, a former Salvation Army official, was charged with bilking three Hawai'i residents of about $141,000 and receiving more than $10,000 from the charity based on bogus work-related mileage claims. He was previously indicted in April on charges of stealing $150,000 that a 77-year-old man wanted to give to the charity.

Janusz was the Salvation Army's director of planned giving when the offenses reportedly occurred. He was fired when the allegations surfaced earlier this year.

David Hudson, the Salvation Army official in charge of the organization's Hawai'i activities, has said when Janusz was hired in 2003 the Salvation Army did not know that he had a 1996 fraud conviction in Colorado for bilking an elderly couple.

The Salvation Army in Hawai'i now has revamped procedures to call for criminal background checks, not only for employees who deal with youths, but also those who come in contact with the public in general.