Ex-charity official in more trouble
By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer
| |||
 |
|
||
A former Salvation Army official awaiting trial on charges of defrauding a 77-year-old man and the organization of about $150,000 now faces new charges of bilking three other elderly residents of money that was supposed to go to the charity.
Timothy Janusz also defrauded the Salvation Army of more than $10,000 in bogus work-related mileage claims, according to the new charges.
Janusz, 48, was indicted by the O'ahu grand jury in April on charges of keeping the $150,000 that the 77-year-old man wanted to donate to the charity.
Yesterday, he was indicted on new charges of defrauding two Honolulu women and a Big Island man of about $141,000 and defrauding the charity of more than $10,000 for mileage expenses by forging the name of a supervisor on the claim forms.
All together, he is accused of defrauding the organization of more than $300,000 while he was the director of planned giving before he was arrested in April.
Deputy Public Defender Craig Nagamine, Janusz's lawyer, declined comment because the cases are pending.
The Salvation Army was rocked by allegations, which surfaced in April, that the man they hired in 2003 had a 1996 fraud conviction in Colorado for bilking an elderly couple.
Janusz also faces a pending federal charge of escaping in 1998 from a federal prison camp in South Dakota where he was serving a five-year sentence for the Colorado conviction.
When the fraud allegations first surfaced in April, David Hudson, the Salvation Army official in charge of the organization's Hawai'i activities, said he had not known about Janusz's criminal history.
Since then, the organization has revamped its 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, Daniel de Castro, director of public relations for the Salvation Army, said yesterday.
He said the organization cooperated with law enforcement and has tried to notify donors about what happened.
"There has been no major impact on donations since this event happened because we try to be very proactive in explaining to our donors the changes to make sure they trust us," he said.
De Castro said Janusz acted alone and that no one else has been disciplined.
MORE CHARGES UNLIKELY
When Janusz was indicted in April, city Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Van Marter said more charges might be filed because his office was reviewing other potential offenses. After the new indictment was returned yesterday, Van Marter said he doesn't expect any additional charges.
In the earlier indictment, Janusz is accused of persuading the 77-year-old man to write three checks totaling $150,000 to a company the defendant created. He was charged with seven felonies including theft, racketeering and money laundering.
In yesterday's indictment, he is charged with:
BAIL NOW AT $5.5 MILLION
Yesterday's indictment charges Janusz with nine counts of theft, unlawful ownership of a business, money laundering and forgery.
The charges in the two cases carry maximum prison terms of either five or 10 years.
Van Marter said the $150,000 in the first case was recovered, but none of the money in the second case was recovered, although the Salvation Army reimbursed two women.
Janusz has been held on $5 million in the first case. Yesterday, Circuit Judge Derrick Chan added $500,000 to that at the request of Van Marter, bringing the bail to $5.5 million.
Van Marter told the judge that Janusz's criminal history includes escaping in the Colorado case and fleeing to Mexico, Belize and the Dutch Antilles, where he was found by the FBI, Van Marter said.
Janusz was brought back to the United States and served the prison term. He was on federal supervisory release when he was hired by the Salvation Army. At the time, the organization did not do criminal background checks for employees who did not work with youths.
A 2004 Salvation Army newsletter introduced Janusz as a graduate of a law school in Nebraska who worked as a financial consultant.
Federal probation officials earlier said Hudson, the Salvation Army official in charge of Hawai'i activities, was notified in 2005 about the fraud conviction. Hudson said he recalled talking to a man, but doesn't remember him saying he was a probation officer or mentioning the conviction.
The trial on the first indictment was scheduled to start this month, but will likely be postponed. Van Marter said he will ask that the two cases be consolidated.
Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.
