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Maui County has paid $200,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a woman who was sexually assaulted in August 2008 by a police officer after her release from custody at the Lahaina Police Station.
In March 2010, Tracy Motelewski filed suit in state court against the county, the Maui Police Department, Kristopher Galon, the officer who sexually assaulted her, and Steven Gunderson, the officer who arrested her and stole $500 from her purse.
After unsuccessful settlement negotiations, the county moved the case to U.S. District Court in December 2011.
Motelewski said in her lawsuit that she was at Puamana Beach Park just outside Lahaina town on Aug. 17, 2008, when Gunderson approached her and forced her to consent to a search of her vehicle. She said Gunderson arrested her, seized her ring and wallet and took her to the Lahaina Police Station after allegedly finding a container of a white powdery substance in the trunk of her car that turned out not to be a narcotic.
She said Gunderson or another officer gave her car keys to her male passenger and gave him permission to take her vehicle.
The next morning, after she spent the night in a police jail cell, Motelewski said, Maui police told her she had to leave the station and did not return her ring and purse. She said she started walking home because her car was not in the station’s parking lot.
As she was walking along Honoapiilani Highway, Motelewski said, Galon, driving a police vehicle and dressed in his police uniform, pulled over and offered to give her a ride home. Instead of driving her straight home, Galon pulled over into a parking lot in Kaanapali, where he sexually assaulted her, she said.
She said Galon later called her to ask for money to get rid of evidence against her from her Puamana Park arrest.
Galon pleaded guilty in federal court in May 2011 to using his police authority to sexually assault Motelewski and steal $1,550 from a motorist during traffic stop in a previous incident.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard L. Puglisi sentenced Galon to 18 months in prison and ordered him to repay the money he stole from the motorist.
Gunderson pleaded guilty in state court in April 2011 to theft for stealing Motelewski’s $500 and tampering with evidence.
Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza sentenced Gunderson to probation, fined him $5,000 and ordered him to pay back the money he stole from Motelewski.
Galon and Gunderson are no longer police officers. The department fired Galon in 2009. The department said Gunderson resigned.
In a joint statement from the county and Motelewski following their agreement to the $200,000 settlement, they said Motelewski was falsely arrested, wrongfully imprisoned and subjected to an illegal search, seizure and false report.
The settlement removes the county and Police Department from Motelewski’s lawsuit. Gunderson settled in March. The lawsuit is still pending against Galon.
The county had previously settled for $7,500 a federal lawsuit filed by a man who said he was sexually assaulted by another Maui police officer who went to his home to respond to a report of a burglary.
Jeffrey Major said he was sexually assaulted in his home in Kihei in March 2010 by Lewis Gamble and, after he reported the incident to Maui police, said Gamble threatened, assaulted and made a false report about him while on suspension from the department.
The department fired Gamble but said it cannot release the details of the dismissal because Gamble is appealing.
A Maui grand jury returned an indictment in March 2010 charging Gamble with sexual assault, kidnapping, impersonating a law enforcement officer while on suspension, false reporting and assault. Trial is scheduled for November.
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