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Former Honolulu police officer Nelson Tamayori and former reserve officer Joseph Becera will not have to spend any time behind bars for failing to report two assaults committed by a fellow officer in an illegal game room last year.
U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright sentenced each man to two years’ probation Wednesday for covering up the assaults of two game room patrons by former officer Vincent Morre. He also fined Becera $10,000.
“But for that video this case would never have seen the light of day.”
J. Michael Seabright
U.S. district judge on the footage captured by security cameras in the game room where the assaults took place
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“I don’t see a public interest here in imposing a term of incarceration,” Seabright said.
He told Tamayori and Becera that their prosecutions and felony convictions serve as sufficient deterrents against future abuse by law enforcement officers.
Becera said he hopes that’s true.
“I hope my brother officers will learn from my experience,” he said.
Tamayori, 45, and Becera, 77, pleaded guilty earlier this year to concealing their knowledge of the assaults by failing to mention them in their reports of a visit to the game room with Morre in September last year to look for a forgery suspect. All three men were members of a Honolulu Police Department plainclothes unit based in Kalihi. Becera also pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI when agents questioned him about it.
Both men eventually came clean and cooperated in Morre’s prosecution.
Tamayori told Seabright that he didn’t report the assaults right away because he feared retaliation and shunning by other officers. It was only after he reported his actions to HPD’s Professional Standards Office, formerly Internal Affairs, that Tamayori learned that the FBI was investigating the case and that the game room’s security cameras had recorded the assaults, Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren Ching told Seabright.
Seabright said if none of the three officers had admitted the assaults occurred, nobody would have believed the two game room patrons.
“But for that video this case would never have seen the light of day,” Seabright said.
He sentenced Morre earlier this month to 30 months in prison for using his police authority to violate the constitutional rights of the two patrons.
Becera retired in October last year after 37 years as a volunteer reserve officer with HPD.
Tamayori resigned from his job at the end of June, one month shy of completing 15 years of service.
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Hawaii News Now