A Kaua'i grand jury today indicted former car dealer Jimmy Pflueger on criminal manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges in connection to the deadly Kaloko Dam collapse that killed seven people in 2006.

The secret panel charged the 82-year-old Pflueger on seven counts of manslaughter for altering the dam, contributing to the deaths.

"We believe that the evidence justified the presentation to a grand jury of a case charging James Pflueger with manslaughter," said Attorney General Mark Bennett, who will personally handle the case, at a news conference today.

Pflueger's attorney, Bill McCorriston, said his client plans to plead not guilty to the charges.

"We are confident Jimmy will be vindicated in the jury trial where he will certainly be found innocent," McCorriston said.

He said Pflueger has made arrangements to surrender to authorities next week.

The grand jury met this week in Kaua'i Circuit Court to look into allegations that Pflueger altered the century-old earthen dam, causing the deadly March 2006 breach.

During the week, the grand jury heard testimony from several witnesses, including a former Kaua'i County engineer and a worker from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, as well as from the state's expert, University of Hawai'i engineering professor Horst Brandes.

The panel also questioned a trustee of the Mary N. Lucas Trust, which owns nearby land, and an employee of the local civil engineering and landscaping firm Belt Collins.

The new grand jury is separate from an investigative grand jury that met this summer that heard testimony from a number of experts and witnesses but did not issue an indictment.

For the past two years, the state has been investigating whether Pflueger or anyone else tampered with the earthen dam and contributed to its failure.

Investigators and their experts had focused on whether a key safety feature, the spillway, was filled in. The concrete spillway was designed to automatically let water flow over the dam to relieve pressure during heavy rains or flood conditions.

Pflueger has denied that he altered the dam.

Relatives of the seven victims and several Kaua'i residents, including entertainer Bette Midler, have sued Pflueger for damages they allege were caused by the Kaloko dam breach.

Pflueger, in turn, has sued the state and C. Brewer & Co., the former owner of Kaloko Reservoir, alleging they knew about possible problems with the dam.

Earlier this week, McCorriston, Pflueger's attorney,, argued before Kaua'i Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano that the state attorney general's office should be disqualified from bringing a criminal action because of a conflict of interest.

While the attorney general's office pursues a criminal investigation, it also is defending the state, which is the target of civil lawsuits stemming from the Kaloko tragedy.