Man gets nearly 5 years for fraud starting in 1990s

A federal judge sentenced a 67-year-old Waikiki man Wednesday to four years and nine months in prison for defrauding city, state and federal agencies since the 1990s by using various identities to collect Section 8 housing assistance, food stamps, student loans and medical assistance.

Kevin Patrick Halverson, who legally changed his name from Vaughn G. Sherwood, was also ordered to pay $213,146 restitution to the various agencies.

U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi said that what was "particularly galling" was that at the same time he was committing theft, he received an inheritance from his parents of more than $360,000.

She noted a "high degree of premeditation" in the crimes committed.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Johnson said Halverson committed the large-scale fraud from 1999 to 2013, using eight different names, nine Social Security numbers and six dates of birth. He used different combinations and permutations of those names, numbers and dates, which added to the complexity of the case.

Halverson pleaded guilty Feb. 6 to two theft charges, aggravated identity theft and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Johnson told the court that Halverson received more than $104,000 in Section 8 housing that could have gone to assist more than 100 families with housing for a month.

Meanwhile, he lived in a Waikiki apartment, drove a luxury car and owned a sailboat.

Halverson, who has a master’s degree, never worked, admitted to collecting $10,000 a year in student loans and grants for living expenses, while collecting federal food assistance.

Johnson said one victim, whose identity Halverson stole, is now deceased, but had to live with having $20,000 in student loans taken out in his name.

Halverson’s attorney, Marcus Sierra, said his client didn’t know how serious it would become, that things "snowballed," that "it just became too easy" and became a way of life.

Halverson apologized to the court, saying:"I’ve committed a grave sin of stealing. … Idon’t know how this happened. I never stole before. It was just on the computer. I tried it, and it was easy."

Sierra said that, due to Halverson’s health problems, "he doesn’t have a lot of time left."

Johnson credited excellent work on the part of an investigator with the state Department of Human Services, along with the FBI, which was investigating the fraud of the U.S. Department of Education beginning in October.

FBI Special Agent Tom Simon said they "stumbled upon each other" during their investigations and teamed up. Halverson "was a prolific identity thief," Simon said.