The prospect that a convicted motorcycle theft ringleader would get out of prison after only six months generated a hailstorm of criticism Wednesday before the Department of Public Safety conceded the whole thing was a mistake.

At a news conference, Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro expressed outrage after receiving a letter that Thang Huynh Nguyen, sentenced to 10 years in prison, would be furloughed.

But DPS spokeswoman Toni Schwartz later said the letter was wrongly worded and that Nguyen is not being considered for furlough.

The letter from Halawa Correctional Facility Warden Nolan Espinda should have said that Nguyen is coming up for possible eligibility for furlough, Schwartz said. That is based on the requirement that inmates can be eligible for furlough 18 months before possible release.

Since the Hawaii Paroling Authority set Nguyen’s minimum term at two years before being eligible to request parole, the notification of his coming up for possible furlough was sent because he will have served six months by the end of July, Schwartz said.

Schwartz said Nguyen, 27, is not "being considered for participation in the furlough program" as the letter indicates because he is not eligible based on his required level of custody.

She said the department is looking into how that wording was included in the letter and why it came from Halawa, a facility for medium- to maximum-security-level inmates. Such letters usually come from facilities that have minimum-security inmates.

Schwartz said Nguyen is at Halawa, but is going to be transferred to Waiawa Correctional Facility for minimum-security inmates.

Nguyen was convicted of leading a ring that stole, altered and sold dozens of motorcycles on Oahu.

Circuit Judge Colette Garibaldi noted that the crimes were committed through Twins Auto Body business in Pearl City, run by both Thang and his twin brother, Toan.

But she said Thang was the listed owner and the one who could have stopped it and that justified the 10-year term.

On Jan. 11, she sentenced Toan to 18 months in prison and probation, a decision strongly criticized by Deputy Prosecutor Chris Van Marter. Garibaldi also granted deferrals to the twins’ girlfriends for their guilty and no-contest pleas to theft, racketeering and money laundering.

Garibaldi also sentenced Fred Woods-Vierra, the person who stole the motorcycles, to probation.

Van Marter said the twins, their girlfriends, Woods-Vierra and two other defendants — who cooperated with the police and FBI investigations — operated the enterprise from 2006 to 2009, resulting in the loss of $513,805 to insurance companies and 60 victims who either had their motorcycles stolen or who bought the stolen motorcycles.