Kealohas file lawsuit over ‘illegal’ inquiries

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.

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.