Kealohas file lawsuit over ‘illegal’ inquiries
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / DEC. 17, 2014
Chief of Police Louis Kealoha attended the Honolulu Police Commission meeting at held at police headquarters on Dec. 17, 2014.
Embattled Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his city deputy prosecutor wife, Katherine Kealoha, are suing the city, the Honolulu Ethics Commission and the commission’s former executive director and former investigator.
The lawsuit, filed in state court Friday, says former Executive Director Chuck Totto and former commission investigator Letha DeCaires “since 2013 (have) conducted a series of unfounded, vindictive, unsubstantiated and illegal investigations,” which have caused destruction, terror and irreparable harm to city’s police and prosecuting attorney departments.
The Kealohas say Totto and DeCaires flagrantly and irresponsibly committed serious ethical, moral and professional violations with “callous disregard for the lives and reputations of others and the demoralizing effect their vicious conduct has had on a number of county agencies and employees.”
The couple’s minor daughter is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
The Kealohas accuse Totto of rigging commission procedures to exempt himself from ethics laws, and they provide examples of how they say Totto exercised favoritism. They accuse DeCaires of using inside information she obtained while she was a Honolulu police officer to make false statements, manufacture evidence and disclose confidential information, and they accuse the city and commission of allowing Totto’s and DeCaires’ actions.
They say after news media reports surfaced that they were the targets of an ethics investigation, based on information leaked by Totto and DeCaires, their daughter was assaulted by other students and had her property stolen and destroyed. They say Totto and DeCaires also leaked confidential files to the FBI, triggering a federal investigation into the same allegations.
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The Kealohas say they were served with notices of alleged ethics violations, but the commission later dismissed them and settled the cases.
The lawsuit says Totto’s motivation for going after the Kealohas was to get even with Chief Kealoha for successfully halting his use of a training aid to shame past ethics violators. It says DeCaires’ motivation is her failed candidacy for police chief, Kealoha’s subsequent denial of her promotion to major and, after her retirement from the Honolulu Police Department, her failed effort to secure a job as an investigator with the prosecutor’s office.
Totto and DeCaires said they were served with copies of the lawsuit Monday. Totto declined comment. DeCaires said she had not had a chance to review the lawsuit.
Ethics Commission Chairwoman Victoria Marks said she had not seen the lawsuit and would leave it up to legal counsel to review.
City spokesman Jesse Broder Van Dyke said the city cannot comment on pending litigation.
This is not the first time the Kealohas have sued the city Ethics Commission.
Katherine Kealoha sued the commission under the pseudonym “Public Servant” in July, asking for a copy of whatever ethics complaint might have been filed against her.
After her lawyers had the suit dismissed, they filed another one in September for plaintiffs “Doe” and “Roe” again asking for copies of any complaints. The second lawsuit also accused Totto and DeCaires of having conflicts of interest and asked the court to disqualify them. Another state judge dismissed those claims as well.
Despite telling the Honolulu Police Commission that he has not been informed by the FBI that he is under criminal investigation, Chief Kealoha acknowledged the investigation last month in a television news interview. He said the investigation stemmed from a family feud involving his wife, some of her relatives and the alleged theft of their mailbox.
Katherine Kealoha’s uncle, Gerard Puana, was charged with stealing the mailbox. HPD started the investigation but later turned it over to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Chief Kealoha caused a mistrial during Puana’s trial in December 2014 when he gave the federal jury unsolicited testimony of Puana’s criminal history. Puana’s lawyer suggested that Kealoha deliberately caused the mistrial, and said the prosecutor dismissed the case after he presented evidence of police misconduct that was going to be presented in the trial.
The lawyer said he then presented the evidence to the FBI.
34 responses to “Kealohas file lawsuit over ‘illegal’ inquiries”
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Hey losers! Get over yourselves already. If you were as squeeky clean as you think you are, this drama would not exisit. Just great to know what quality of public servents we employ in this farce of a city.
I believe it’s time for “Mr Doe” and “Mrs Roe” to go and pursue careers in the private sector. We really can’t afford their nonsense any more. It’s gotten to be like the blooper reel of “Dog the Bounty Hunter” over there.
And there’s name for people who “leak ‘confidential’ documents to the FBI. They’re called “whistleblowers” and it’s not like you could expect HPD to investigate their own police chief.
Mr Caldwell, it’s time to start acting like a Mayor and get a handle on this. It’s not only gone on too long, they are getting worse.
Kealoha makes Sheriff Rosco from the Dukes of Hazzard look competent.
All the notoriety certainly does not make it easier for their minor daughter , yet they persist in remaining in the spotlight. All the litigation is insuring their ability to remain working at better than the rest of the taxpayers.
It is a well established local culture practice to mis-use professional positions for personal purposes so on that count this law suit sounds credible. This kind of infighting is found in everything in Hawaii. It is more common than normal government activity. It might be the new normal. It seems to be the knee jerk reaction that rules everything.
Like what they did to her uncle.
Enough already! Time for the Kealoha’s to be fired. They are a total embarrassment to the City and County of Honolulu. If the Police Commission and Keith Kaneshiro cannot recognize the loss of public respect for law enforcement by the public, then they all should resign.
The inability of the Police Commission and Kaneshiro to understand the public’s outrage in the Kealoha’s constant public family battles, failures in their professions, and the involvement of City resources diverted or misdirected must be addressed.
Time for these two to take a leave of absence to focus on their latest legal action without pay.
Star-Advertiser, I’m never quite sure of your agenda but will you please get this up in the headlines where it belongs.
The best defense is a good offense.
In the end who will be paying the lawyers fee? Taxpayers?
Not if they lose.
“their daughter was assaulted by other students and had her property stolen and destroyed” Oh no, not another mailbox caper. Did the chief use his special investigators to catch the culprits?
Because of an ethics investigation against Chief Kealoha?
Man, these teenager thugs today read the newspaper a lot more carefully than they did in my day.
Seriously, the Kealoha’s claims keep getting increasingly more bizarre and ridiculous. Now that they are trying to cash out using even more tax payer funds, I think it’s pretty clear that they need to go.
I think its pretty clear Totto has to go, retire or resign! Oh wait he did that. I guess that was the white flag and a confirmation of guilt.
Are you kidding?
Chuck Totto’s entire office was gutted, defunded, and saddled with busy work like writing down what they were doing every 6 minutes by Current Mayor Kirk Caldwell. Can you imagine requiring that of any other city office?
Would you rather have an effective dept of ethics or a petty, vindictive mayor who doesn’t want anyone looking over his shoulder? You’d probably take the petty, vindictive mayor wouldn’t you. Why is that?
Don’t blame the mayor. It’s the board members that imposed those rules. Sounds like DeCaires was vindictive and petty and led Totto down that path.
No such thing as illegal inquiries. Another case that will be dismissed and this is coming from a supervisor at the Prosecutors Office. Pathetic.
Agree. When is it ever illegal to find the truth?
Isn’t it time to have a new police chief? Maybe a new mayor may call for a change.
Let’s HOPE so
He doesn’t have to but he should step down and take care of his personal affairs. He has little to gain by staying in that position.
And a lot to lose.
The article doesn’t name the attorney who represents these two. Or get a quote from her/him? Why not just post the complaint and dispense with the “article”?
meow your not a good cheaf I hope you get fired
That photo of Kealoha says it all. Picture worth a thousand words. Show “..aloha”.
So, what’s the deal with the mailbox again? Did the uncle steal it because there was some letter he either didn’t want them to get it or because of a letter he wanted them to see? I don’t get it! It is just so strange!
I guessing it was her bank statements for Granny.
The arrogance and entitlement is palpable with these two jorts. They make shame for Hawaiians.
Wow! So because the City cannot sue itself…the Kealoha’s will do it on behalf of the City?
“…which have caused destruction, terror and irreparable harm to city’s police and prosecuting attorney departments.”
I also like the neat and clean “the city cannot comment on pending litigation.” What – against itself? City Prosecutor and the City Police Chief versus the City Ethics. I think many of you are right, who’s leading these people? Where is the Mayor?
Ddmka, the city is being sued because the Ethic Committee, Totto and DeCaires all fall under the City. It’s called vicarious liability. I think the Kealoha’s are suing as individuals.
Totto is possibly going to have to file his federal case and remedy all of this state filings back to federal court.
What I want to know more about is the traffic ticket she got dismissed for the guy that worked for her private business. Anyway, Caldwell has been successful in completely killing the funding for the ethics department at the City (nobody works there now) so he can do whatever he wants with rail and all the other crooked city schemes.
They both should have been fired. Now that they filed a lawsuit, the city will look like it is retaliating. Stupid.