Kealoha hearings wrap up after 2 years in court

A federal grand jury tasked with deciding whether criminal charges should be brought against retired Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, wife and Deputy City Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha and other HPD officers, wound up two years of hearings Thursday, with U.S. attorneys mum about whether any indictments will be handed down.

Federal prosecutors have been telling the jurors that the Kealohas and others conspired to frame Gerard Puana, Katherine Kealoha’s uncle, for the theft of the mailbox outside their then-Kahala home in December 2013. At the time, Puana and the Kealohas were entangled in a civil lawsuit over family money.

Three current and former police officers, all of whom were in HPD’s elite Criminal Intelligence Unit in December 2013, were arrested this week on various criminal charges related to CIU’s mailbox theft investigation. They were each released on $50,000 signature bonds.

Officer Minh Hung “Bobby” Nguyen is charged with conspiring with others to alter or falsify records, obstructing an official proceeding and making a false statement, according to the criminal complaint against him.

Retired Maj. Gordon Shiraishi is charged with obstructing an official proceeding, according to his criminal complaint.

Lt. Derrick Hahn, whom U.S. attorneys described as the mastermind of the frame attempt, is charged with falsifying information, obstructing federal agencies looking into the theft investigation and then lying about it.

Retired Officer Niall Silva, who was in CIU at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty last year to contributing to the conspiracy in a deal with federal prosecutors in exchange for his cooperation. Silva said he was instructed by Hahn to not hand over an entire hard drive and then to later lie about the details to federal authorities.

Myles Breiner, attorney for the Kealohas, was critical of the federal investigation.

Speaking outside the U.S. District Court building where he appeared at an unrelated proceeding, Breiner accused U.S. attorneys of grasping for ways to hand down indictments against his clients. He said he doesn’t know what the grand jury may have done.

“No one came running out of the grand jury room screaming that we have an indictment,” he said. “I have never had a case like this before. Normally, a grand jury convenes within a relatively short period of time, they hear evidence and they charge the case. This has been a protracted process.”

Nonetheless, he said, the Kealohas are innocent of any of the allegations against them, and he and his clients stand ready to fight any charges.

Those familiar with the investigation believe U.S. attorneys involved in the case intend to bring additional charges, possibly involving city Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro and his office.