A former Honolulu police officer faces possible state and federal drug charges after police and the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted separate raids at his Pearl City house through the past two months.
Federal agents arrested Christoper R. Carlson, 44, at his Hoola Place residence Saturday. He is accused of possessing property stolen from a DEA agent’s official government vehicle.
The agent said in documents he submitted in court that as he was preparing to leave his Hawaii Kai residence June 13, he noticed that his vehicle had been burglarized. Items stolen included a ballistic vest with DEA insignia, a police emergency visor light, a global positioning device, binoculars and a DEA dashboard placard.
On Saturday the agent said he spoke to an informant who told him of being contacted by someone looking for anyone wanting a “bulletproof vest with DEA patches, a police light and some other stuff.”
The informant said the people who stole the items gave them to a female who left them at Carlson’s home.
The DEA obtained a search warrant and raided Carlson’s home. Officers seized a bag containing suspected methamphetamine and suspected cocaine, a bottle of miscellaneous pills, two black bulletproof vests, three DEA/police insignia patches, a DEA placard, a police visor light, nine U.S savings bonds and a backpack containing flares and a first-aid kit.
The agent said Carlson told him that a female had given him the police equipment the night of June 14 and that he knew the items were going to “draw a lot of heat,” so he intended to return them the following week.
At Carlson’s detention hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court, defense lawyer Megan Kau suggested the suspected drugs could belong to someone else because Carlson has five roommates who lease or rent space from him in his house.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard L. Puglisi ordered Carlson released on $50,000 bond, $10,000 of which must be in cash posted within 24 hours of his release.
On May 3 police arrested Carlson after raiding his house and charged him with methamphetamine trafficking, possession of cocaine, drug paraphernalia and a rifle with a sawed-off barrel.
At his preliminary hearing in Honolulu District Court on June 4, the prosecutor asked the judge to dismiss the charges without giving an explanation. The judge dismissed the charges without prejudice, giving the state the opportunity to refile the charges later.
Carlson did not show up at the preliminary hearing. He told his lawyer he believes the search warrant police used to raid his home is defective.
Carlson joined the Police Department in 1993. He left in 2009 after pleading guilty to refusing an order to stop, reckless driving and resisting arrest and no contest to driving under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of an accident. The state dropped an excessive-speeding charge. All of the charges stem from an April 10, 2008 incident.
