Airport guards indicted over bribes

An Oahu grand jury has indicted four private security officers and traffic control officers for allegedly taking bribes from taxi and shuttle drivers at Honolulu Airport, state Attorney General Douglas Chin announced Thursday.

Securitas employees Ruben Corpuz Alonzo, Ranie A. Ilagan, Gay Manicia Gatcha­lian and Euriphides Magalang allegedly solicited and accepted more than $3,000 in payments from taxi and shuttle drivers at the airport.

Deputy Attorney General Albert Cook said in a news release, “In exchange the defendants provided customers to these drivers and allowed the drivers to circumvent the rules and regulations relating to taxi and shuttle drivers and ground transportation” at the airport.

The FBI and special-agent investigators at the attorney general’s office conducted a monthslong undercover investigation into the case after taxi drivers complained certain officers at the airport were taking bribes and showing favoritism to those who paid, Chin said in the release.

The Securitas workers were indicted on counts of bribery, a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.