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A federal judge sentenced retired Honolulu police Maj. Carlton Nishimura to eight months in jail Thursday for lying to the FBI and filing a false 2005 income tax return.
Nishimura had also been charged with extortion conspiracy and drug promotion.
The federal prosecutor dropped the extortion and drug charges in a plea deal.
Nishimura, 57, will spend less than seven months behind bars because U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor gave him credit for five weeks of pretrial confinement.
In addition to the jail time, Gillmor ordered Nishimura to pay $2,447 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and perform 200 hours of community service. She granted his request to recommend confinement at the Federal Detention Center here and to allow him to turn himself in by Nov. 4.
Nishimura was indicted in February 2011 by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to accept bribes from illegal gambling operators in exchange for steering officers away from the gaming rooms.
Nishimura apologized for his actions.
Gillmor told him what he did contributes to the public’s loss of confidence in government and law enforcement, and brings dishonor to other law enforcement officers. She said what he did during pretrial release was shocking and reprehensible.
In the months following his indictment, Nishimura violated court orders by having contact and a relationship with the key prosecution witness against him for the lying and extortion charges. It was during that time that the FBI found methamphetamine in his home where the witness, Doni Mei Imose Crisolo, visited him. Gillmor said Nishimura also lied to the FBI about getting a loan from his parents to help pay his bills.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Muehleck said he is pleased with the sentence Gillmor handed down, even though he gave up the extortion and drug charges, because Nishimura admitted guilt, got a felony conviction and is no longer in a position of trust.
Nishimura retired from the Honolulu Police Department in December 2011.
Muehleck said the case against Nishimura was about "policing the police, enforcing the law against a law enforcement officer."
He said HPD’s Internal Affairs started the investigation but didn’t find anything. He said that during the investigation, the department transferred Nishimura from Patrol District 1 to the Information and Technology Division and suspended his promotion to major.
Nishimura told the FBI the Internal Affairs investigation cleared him of wrongdoing.
The department later transferred Nishimura to its Criminal Investigation Division and promoted him to major.
Muehleck said the FBI resumed the investigation after developing new information. That resulted in charges accusing Nishimura of conspiring with Crisolo to extort money from Crisolo’s ex-husband to protect the ex-husband’s illegal gambling house and to harass his competitors in 2004-2006.
Other charges included lying about what he told Crisolo about a Federal Task Force Investigation of the United Samoan Organization prison gang and asking Crisolo to lie for him.
Muehleck said the Task Force Investigation, which is ongoing, resulted in at least four criminal indictments. The most recent charges 17 Hawaii inmates and a former Halawa Correctional Facility guard with racketeering.
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COURTESY FBI