Police chief needs to explain his role in family dispute

Family disputes around money and property are always messy and frequently even become explosive, and on most occasions outsiders prefer simply to look away. However, that can’t be an option when the parties involved are the city’s top police officer and a member of the Honolulu prosecutorial team.

The public must take an interest in even private matters when their handling raises questions about police procedures, among other things. Such is the case in the legal conflict in the family of Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, who took the opportunity to handle a potentially hazardous situation on his own.

The chief needs to be forthcoming with more details about the timeline. The Kahala neighborhood where he formerly lived, and the wider community beyond that, deserve to know what went on in the background here because these episodes affect the trust residents have in police officials and their capacity to offer protection.

Kealoha has been named a government witness in a criminal case arising from the dispute, which has also spawned a civil lawsuit.

The civil case names the chief’s wife, Deputy Honolulu Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha, and it concerns money she allegedly took from a reverse mortgage on her grandmother’s home.

Katherine Kealoha requested personal leave from her job, said Dave Koga, spokesman for the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney. He added that the department has not launched its own inquiry into the matter, but declined further comment.

The suit was filed by her uncle, Gerard Puana, and is scheduled for trial in December. Also that month, a related criminal case is expected to be heard in federal court: Puana is being charged with the removal of the Kealohas’ Kahala mailbox, a federal offense.

The police chief has been called as a government witness in that prosecution, in which Puana is charged with tearing down the mailbox outside the Kealohas’ Kealaolu Avenue home in June 2013.

The chief said he reported that incident but not the episodes of property damage at his home — including shots fired at a door and windows — for a year.

Whether those threats were related to the mailbox vandalism case is unclear, but it’s disturbing in any event that they went unreported for a full year because, the chief said, he felt he could take care of them himself.

Kealoha must explain more fully what, if any, Honolulu Police Department resources were brought to bear on it.

The chief said that when the attacks continued, he did start making reports. Ultimately, however, Kealoha seemed unable to resolve this threat because the family sold the home a year ago and moved.

Kealoha said he reported the stolen mailbox to Deputy Chief Marie McCauley, who assigned it to the police Criminal Intelligence Unit. HPD then turned it over to the federal authorities.

According to court documents, a postal inspector reviewed the Kealohas’ home surveillance video and concluded the person tearing the mailbox off its post and putting it into a vehicle appeared to be Puana.

Alexander Silvert, first assistant federal defender, countered that he does not believe Puana is the person in the video.

Much of this mess will have to be sorted out in court, but Kealoha needs to explain his own involvement.

The amounts of money involved in the civil case are substantial. The reverse mortgage on Katherine Kealoha’s grandmother’s house, according to the lawsuit, was to help pay for Puana’s condominium, with $148,514 left over and Katherine Kealoha holding power of attorney. There are records for expenditures such as car expenses, shopping, restaurants and nearly $24,000 for the chief’s inaugural breakfast in 2010.

Chief Kealoha has had a lot of weighty issues before him recently, including HPD’s handling of domestic violence that involved a police officer. Personal problems such as this family battle are a distraction, to say the least, one that the department can ill afford — but it becomes even more troubling if misconduct is revealed.