Three defendants, re-indicted early this year in a criminal case involving sweepstakes machines alleged to be gambling devices, turned themselves in Monday at the main police station.
Police arrested Eugene Simeona Jr., 44, Tracy Yoshimura, 53, and Michael D. Miller Jr., 42, on multiple counts of promotion of gambling and ownership of a business that involves racketeering, gambling or other illegal activities.
They were among nine people originally indicted in May 2014 on 414 counts of racketeering, gambling promotion, possession of gambling devices and money laundering.
In October 2014 Circuit Judge Randal Lee dismissed the original indictment. The prosecution said there were deficiencies with the indictment and that it would seek a new one.
A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said the three arrested Monday were re-indicted in February. They are the distributors of the machines and owners or operators of the arcades.
In January an Oahu grand jury re-indicted the other six individuals, who were employees of the arcades where the machines were seized, on charges of promotion of gambling and racketeering.
Myles Breiner, attorney for Yoshimura, the main defendant in the case, said the indictments were unsealed Friday, and the three defendants were served with warrants for their arrest Monday, but he had not yet seen the indictment.
He said Monday afternoon that they would post bail and be released.
In December 2014 Yoshimura, owner of PJY Enterprises, a distributor of the Products Direct Sweepstakes machines, sued the city; Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro; Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha, the wife of the Honolulu police chief; and Deputy Prosecutor Jacob Delaplane.
A judge dismissed the lawsuit, which accused the prosecutors of malicious prosecution, negligence and violating his constitutional rights.