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Charges against two former members of the Honolulu Police Department’s DUI checkpoint unit, accused of falsifying DUI arrest reports to pad overtime, have been dismissed a little more than a month after they pleaded no contest to a reduced charge.
Christopher and Patrick Bugarin pleaded no contest Aug. 7 to one charge each of tampering with a government record.
State Circuit Judge Edward Kubo told the brothers if they each paid a $500 fine and stayed out of trouble for three months, he would dismiss the charges.
On Wednesday the Bugarins asked Kubo to end their deferral periods early. Kubo agreed.
Kubo fined two other former members of the Selective Enforcement Unit, Sgts. Duke Zoller and Aaron Bernal, $800 each and told them they would have to stay out of trouble for six months before they could have the tampering charges, to which they pleaded no contest, dismissed. Zoller’s and Bernal’s deferral periods end in February.
CORRECTION: Honolulu Police Department officers Christopher and Patrick Bugarin pleaded no contest to one charge each of tampering with a government record. The brothers are still on the police force and they did not admit any wrongdoing. A headline on an earlier version of this story misidentified them as ex-officers and said they admitted falsifying DUI arrest reports.