Four city park labor supervisors and eight prison inmates were arrested Thursday after allegedly trying to sneak crystal methamphetamine, an "ice" pipe and tobacco onto the grounds of the Oahu Community Correctional Center.
The inmates, participating in a supervised outside work program, were allowed by the city supervisors to swim and relax at Ala Moana Beach Park’s Magic Island before they returned to the prison and were stopped by guards as part of a routine check at the gate, state Public Safety Director Jodie Maesaka-Hirata said.
Public Safety officials received an anonymous tip earlier this week about prisoners swimming at Magic Island, Maesaka-Hirata said. After department officials visually confirmed it was happening on a second day this week, Maesaka-Hirata said she went to Ala Moana "to see it for myself" on Thursday and found a number of inmates on the beach unsupervised.
The day culminated in the arrests.
Four vans were returning Thursday afternoon from what are referred to as work lines when they were checked at the OCCC gate in Kalihi, public safety spokeswoman Toni Schwartz said.
All four vans, each with a crew of inmates and a city supervisor, contained contraband.
In one of the vans, authorities found an ice pipe and an undisclosed amount of a white, crystalline substance that appeared to be a crystal methamphetamine, which was found in a cooler, Schwartz said. City park supervisor Gordon Ng was arrested on suspicion of third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, as were the eight inmates, she said.
Found in all four vans were varying quantities of loose tobacco and premade tobacco cigarettes. Arrested on suspicion of second-degree promotion of prison contraband were park supervisors Spencer Cabato, Leroy Kamealoha and Edward Mitsuda, as well as Ng.
The eight inmates were in the van that contained the druglike substance and the ice pipe, Maesaka-Hirata said.
Other inmates in the three other vans were not arrested, including those who were spotted on the beach, she said.
The four park supervisors were released pending investigation and had not been charged.
They are city employees holding "labor supervisor I" positions and making between $2,995 and $3,308 a month. They were placed on unpaid leave Friday morning pending investigation, said Craig Mayeda, park maintenance and recreation services administrator.
City Parks Director Gary Cabato confirmed that Spencer Cabato, a city employee since 2006, is his brother, according to city spokeswoman Louise Kim McCoy.
Kamealoha and Mitsuda have been employed by the city since 1989, while Ng was first hired in 2000.
Maesaka-Hirata said she was stunned and disappointed by the developments that played out during the week.
She supervised the department’s work line program at OCCC and the Laumaka Work Furlough Center from 2002 to 2008, and personally trained three of the four supervisors. Cabato is the only one she does not know well, she said.
"These supervisors are seasoned workers who have been around for many years," Maesaka-Hirata said. "Because there were concerns about other work lines in the past, we created guidelines and rules which we had all of them go over."
Each supervisor was also given a copy of the rules and asked to sign for it, she said.
City officials have been given specific instructions not to take inmates on work crews to the beach, Maesaka-Hirata said.
McCoy said three of the four crews had conducted work in "slide areas" in Palolo and Aina Haina on Thursday, while the fourth did work at Ewa Mahiko Park on Renton Road.
"None of the work lines had any work scheduled at Magic Island," she said.
"We try to set a standard for the inmates, and we’re trying to teach them about work ethic and work skills,"Maesaka-Hirata said. "This is not the kind of work ethic we want to teach them where you work three hours and play three hours."
There are currently 14 OCCC work lines, including the four supervised by the city. Others are supervised by adult corrections officers or state agencies.
Maesaka-Hirata noted that inmates in the work line program are preparing to leave incarceration and return to society. "It’s like pre-work furlough," she said.
When the four vehicles returned to OCCC Thursday, they were checked by state sheriffs, a tactic that is normally done on occasion on a random basis, she said.
The state considers the smuggling of cigarettes into prisons a serious issue because they can be bartered. "A pack of cigarettes can cost as much as $200 to $500, depending on the brand," Maesaka-Hirata said.
The arrests were made by state sheriffs and agents from the Narcotics Enforcement Division. The case is being investigated by internal affairs staff as well as sheriffs from the Public Safety Department. The state attorney general’s office is participating as well.
Determining whether there were previous violations or criminal actions is part of the ongoing investigation, Maesaka-Hirata said.
Mayor Peter Carlisle, in a statement, said the city intends to "cooperate fully and completely with the criminal investigation."
Maesaka-Hirata said she is a believer in the work line program. "I know that we certainly find this to be a viable program for both the inmates and the city," she said. "I guess we have to figure out what we’re going to do."
What was uncovered this week is also "a wake-up call" to other work line supervisors and inmates to follow laws and rules.
"Instant gratification is something that gets a lot of people into trouble," Maesaka-Hirata said.
The eight inmates arrested were Eric Aiwohi, Anousack Hamilton, Clyde Hayakawa, Anthony Ioakea, Jason Kaluwai Mano, Allan Manuel, Brett A. Ragan and Joseph A. Rivera.
