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COURTESY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
Owen P. Harbison, of an Ala Napuaa Street address, was charged Wednesday with three counts of identity theft and second-degree theft and one count of unauthorized possession of confidential personal information in connection with golfer Robert Allenby's case.
The man accused of buying clothes, liquor and boxes of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts using Australian professional golfer Robert Allenby’s credit cards pleaded guilty in state court Tuesday in a deal with the city prosecutor.
Owen Patrick Harbison pleaded guilty to one count each of identity theft and attempted theft, for using Allenby’s American Express credit card, and to unauthorized possession of confidential personal information for having Allenby’s identification cards.
He was arrested in connection with credit cards stolen from Allenby while he was in Honolulu for the Sony Open in January.
Defense lawyer Arthur Indiola said Harbison pleaded guilty because it was in his best interest.
Harbison, 32, had been charged with three counts each of identity theft and attempted theft plus the one count of possessing Allenby’s identification cards.
The city prosecutor’s office agreed to drop two counts each of the identity theft and attempted theft and reduced the identity theft to a class C felony with five years maximum imprisonment from a class B felony with 10 years maximum prion term. And the deal does not require Harbison to pay restitution.
The two sides also agreed to a five-year prison sentence with no mandatory minimum.
State Circuit Judge Glenn Kim said that because Harbison and the state have agreed to the open five-year prison term, he could have imposed the sentence Tuesday. However, he scheduled sentencing for August.
Deputy Prosecutor Jacob Delaplane said “I have spoken to (Allenby) about the plea agreement. He’s not happy about it. But he did agree to it.”
Harbison’s guilty pleas mean Allenby will not have to return to Hawaii to testify in trial.
