Kenoi in theft case accused of misusing funds for alcohol
STAR-ADVERTISER
Hawaii island Mayor Billy Kenoi appeared in Hilo District Court on March 30 to be arraigned on felony theft charges.
HILO » The deputy attorney general prosecuting Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi on theft charges has accused the mayor of using his government-issued credit card to buy “exorbitant amounts of alcohol.”
Deputy Attorney General Kevin Takata filed court documents saying a majority of the 15 card receipts presented to jurors of Kenoi’s personal purchases were related to alcohol. He also says the alleged purchases made on his card weren’t reimbursed until media requests seeking copies of the mayor’s card records were filed.
A grand jury indicted Kenoi in March on charges of theft, tampering with public records and making a false statement under oath. The charges stem from the alleged misuse of his card from 2011 to 2015.
A yearlong investigation by the state Attorney General Office’s was launched in April 2015 after Kenoi acknowledged he used the credit card to cover personal expenses that included nearly $900 at a Honolulu bar. He was also accused of charging a $1,200 surfboard and nearly $2,000 worth of bicycle equipment to the card.
Other bar tab purchases included $400 at another Honolulu hostess bar and $700 at a Hilo karaoke bar, The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.
The county followed with its own audit in July 2015 and found that 145 transactions totaling $23,683 from the mayor’s office were questionable, didn’t follow county policy or might have violated state law.
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Kenoi reimbursed the county for $22,292 in charges between January 2009 and March 2015. He later paid back an additional $9,500.
Todd Eddins, Kenoi’s attorney, filed several motions on Aug. 8 to have the case dismissed. The motions claim a “violation of the defendant’s right to a fair and impartial grand jury proceedings” and a “violation of (Kenoi’s) due process rights.” One motion to dismiss two theft charges against Kenoi is “based on failure to provide adequate notice as to the terms of the charges,” according to court records.
In his response to the motions, Takata said the mayor “alleges that his status as a public figure entitles him to special consideration that has never been extended to any other criminal defendant.”
A judge will consider the motions at a Friday hearing.
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Correction: The last name of attorney Todd Eddins was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.
57 responses to “Kenoi in theft case accused of misusing funds for alcohol”
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Look at that smug liberal democrat face…priceless!
True..Billie was the consummate phony. He laughed at the simple people of Hilo while cynically duping them with his persona of a pidgin-speaking good old boy.
Why r u picking on po billy, alley cat – he was only following orders and behaving exactly as was expected of him, given he is in local government, out here, hon.
I cannot disagree with you mythman. What I like about you is that you have dared to look behind the curtain out here and reported back what you saw. Most out here are too scared to do that.
His is peanuts compared to the Democrat Party of Hawai’i which has controlled the House and Senate for the last 53 years. If they hold him accountable for his actions, they should hold themselves accountable for their thefts too.
How about republicans holding themselves accountable? At least the democrats didn’t come in with a surplus and leave with a trillion dollar + deficit. Democrats may be far from perfect but at least they don’t stiff young girls and make them sue. Disgusting!
You, mam, have a one track mind.
You seem obsessed with “stiffs”
Republicans are sparse here in the islands
Yes Kamiliman, fortunately republicans are relatively sparse in Hawaii. Lets keep it that way. (At least until they start acting like real real republicans and not just voodoo doctors.)
Boots, what does that have to do with Kenoi, a liberal democrat, ripping off the people in Hilo.
Red herring.
agree
Lana you probably should blame Obama for this too.
And don’t forget Hillary, too!
You buy me drinky me luv you for life…hehe
$700 in a Hilo Karaoke bar he must have gotten something more than a few songs.
What!? Jus cuz Billy like drink couple Heineken no make heem one criminal. He jus like have good time like da rest of da kanaka’s.
Goodness, how much does a few drinks cost per day? Mayor Kenoi should be seeking help if he is alcohol dependent. Now, hostess bars are an entirely different matter. Should also be seeking help if he is hostess bar dependent. This young mans career may have been destroyed. His presumed downfall will not be the first on record. Milton Holt seems to come to mind. Mama’s keep you children out of hostess bars whether they be employees or patrons. Seeking love in all the wrong places.
The hostess bar receipts were probalbly him hosting his cronies or showing off to visiting officials.
da rules……….no money no honey no tea no talk…….neva goin change
Look at him! He don’t care what the general public thinks of him. He’s probably gotten away with much worse things. He’s laughing at the system!
The photographer probably snapped many photos and the editors scanned through them and choose the one they wanted to draw in viewers, like that insurance commercial states, “thatʻs what they do.” Lets not be that ignorant or swayed that this was the expression of his face throughout the proceedings. Do I agree with what he did? Of course not! Just take a look at the evidence. But I will not allow tabloid-type reporting to influence my opinions.
I agree, and thank you for pointing this out so eloquently. They used a similar “hand caught in the cookie jar” photo of him forever too.
yup..tip of the iceberg.
To be fair, the editor chose to use this photo of Kenoi presuming his guilt not his innocence.
Read all of your comments andI agree, the S/A decided to use this photo to show his smugness and “all about me” attitude. He still doesn’t care!
What an entitled s o b. He “alleges that his status as a public figure entitles him to special consideration that has never been extended to any other criminal defendant.”
That is a crock. Because he is mayor, a publicly electe official, all the more reason that he should be treated by the law just like his constituents.
He thinks he is a king above all scrutiny.
agree. Old man Billie could not care less about anybody but his own skin. But he was brilliant in playing the part of a pidgin-speaking simple man of the people. He is well educated and wealthy not to mention the former prodigy promoted by a thuggish monopoly party.
Disagree. I spend a lot of time on the Big Island and he has done a lot for the community which includes much-needed county projects that have brought in jobs for the unemployed and repaired and restored public parks that the entire community uses and enjoys. People in the urban core of Honolulu do not realize how large of a role public parks and recreation centers play in rural communities. Again, do I agree with his misuse of his County P-card? Of course not, but to state that he could not “care less about anybody but his own skin” is too general of a false of a statement.
we disagree but that is completely appropriate.
Let’s get real here! Mayor Kenoi is not the only one abusing his P card and other state accounts. Administrators at UH have been doing the same for years and all scrambled to clean up their acts when Kenoi got busted. Why doesnʻt the state go after them as well? One administrator was quietly cautioned by the Board of Regents and a former Chancellor to stop charging his trips to a foreign country (where his girlfriend’s family was from) to the UH tab under the pretense that he was attending conferences. If it is good enough to investigate Kenoi then it is good enough to investigate this UH administrator. Thousands and thousands of state $$$ are being misappropriated by a bunch of crooks–go after EVERYONE, not just one poor sap!
File a formal complaint and name names, if you have copies of his P-card statements showing his expenses for his European vacations that would be helpful. Of course like the DOE charter school principal who used Hawaii taxpayer money to fund his European and Asian vacations, even though he was convicted of the crimes for theft, the judge just gave him probation, let him split Hawaii and move to the mainland and some B S repayment plan of just a couple of hundred dollars per month
This old biddy has been ranting about her personal life for years, now Honeybadger, before some other screen name. She claims to have had her UH hubby stolen away from her by some Chinese female but doesn’t name any names – just innuendos. With a persona like that, any wonder her hubby looked elsewhere.
isn’t she referring to richardson law school?
What are you talking about? You need to get your facts straight.
2disgusted can’t spell let alone join two words into a sentence. This person – who is clearly trying to at least look like an insider – has made nary an error in his/her impassioned demands that someone (else) do something.
TigerEye: Thank you! Personally, I donʻt give a rip about the personal lives of any of the misfits in the UH Administration, but I DO give a rip when administrators misappropriate state/tax payer funds that could, otherwise, be used to develop a top rate institution. This development includes better support for students. UH is a landgrant institution that needs to be doing a better job catering to the needs of the Hawaii community. When the illegal antics of administrators (the case I provide above is one example only) are “corrected” quietly behind closed doors by cronies (without penalty), UH will always be a drain that wastes taxpayer money! And, it will, sadly, always be a third rate university.
UH has covered it up! This is why the AG’s Office needs to audit his spending and interview those involved in the cover up.
Addiction is a disease. The disease can lead folks to run up debt. Mayor Kenoi should seek treatment for his disease. We should not be so quick to judge him. His fine record as Mayor, while not excusing, his misconduct, should be reason to provide him with help instead of incarceration.
headcheese, you have a good heart.
Poor Billy, in deep kim Chee. Sadly this is of his own making. I am not all that critical of his using a card as a personal credit card but he showed negligence in not paying it back as soon as possible. Considering he was warned about this on multiple occasions and he was slow to change his behavior shows that he has some real problems.
He did pay most of it back after he was caught and exposed. Had he not been caught, we would still be in credit card heaven.
Is it the price of doing business? Yes, perhaps it is. Perhaps his “nah nah nah…oni joke” style put off a few folks. Perhaps his excessive carousing and travel was a bit much. But hey, this mayor has certainly built some roads and playgrounds. He finished the Ironman Triathalon, paid for Ulu Boy’s trip, and made a lot of folks at Isemoto Contracting very happy in the process. What could be so wrong with that?
I live on the Big Island and have been active in civic affairs as a volunteer during Kenoi’s tenure as mayor, and I have had several occasions to interact with him. Nothing in the list of accusations surprises me. I have been at meetings with this man and observed his operating style for almost eight years now, and he has the attitude more in keeping with that of a king than an elected public servant. He can be charming, but he can also come across as thuggish. To call him an narcissist would be an understatement.
Kenoi seems to truly believe that he is entitled to supplement his lifestyle using the county’s credit. Early in the scandal, I recall that he said he used the pCard because he had no credit card of his own. How do you make $130,000 per year and not have a credit card? Or a debit card or checkbook you can use? By very badly mismanaging one’s personal finances, that’s how.
It is very telling that when the votes were counted, Kenoi’s worst numbers in both his elections were in Puna, the district where he grew up and is best known. It took a late endorsement by Daniel Inouye and a ton of off-island campaign contributions got him past an essentially unfunded opponent in the last election by less than a two percent margin.
I guess that Inouye endorsement made Kenoi think he was the anointed one and above the rules that apply to mere mortals. We’ll see how it plays in court. The way it goes with our judicial system, he could walk.
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Thanks for the info!
>> “the Inouye endorsement made Kenoi think he was the anointed one and above the rules” << Kenoi wasn't the first, but may be the last, to suffer from Uncle Dan's "generosity" and "loyalty". Coddling and propping up unfit people and projects using political influence is a prescription for failure. Our community is littered with such casualties. Power and money should never be viewed as ends in themselves. Just last week we became aware of how Inouye's "loyalty" to the local fishing industry has resulted in decades of human misery aboard "floating prisons". We are trying to grapple with how his "generosity" finally launched the current Honolulu Rail disaster. We lack affordable rental housing because the chair of the US Senate Armed Services Subcommittee ensured that Hawaii has the highest per-capita military presence in the Nation along with the highest housing allowances. This has taken up tens of thousands of homes in our neighborhoods, and inflated rent prices for all the rest.
Agreed, DannoBoy, on Uncle Dan’s hand being in a number of problematical Hawaii projects, some of which were individuals chosen for office with more regard to good old boy club loyalty than competence . . . never mind ethics. It is no secret that Kenoi had ambitions for higher office that were stoked by rampant ego and Inouye’s backing. If we are lucky, his political career will be ended by this. If we are not lucky, this joker could shed some crocodile tears, make some groveling public acts of contrition (likely in pidgin,) and try a comeback. Stranger things have happened.
interesting insights. Yes, Inouye was the king maker. Kenoi owed Inouye and would have delivered as ordered. His main credential seemed to have been his ethnicity. But give kenoi credit: he fooled a lot of people who really believed in him and his spiel. Like Milton Holt, he was viewed as a man on the make and on the fast-track to be governor.
That is interesting “Allie” more telling of your age as Milton Holt’s troubles began in the mid to late 90’s now how long have you been a “student” here in Hawaii to be able to recall his case.
I was thinking the same thing! You, Allie, are the pot calling the kettle black. Why don’t you try telling the truth for a change? Must be easier to criticize…
I doubt he will spend one day in jail. I won’t be surprised if he later runs for a seat at the legislature. Could you imagine him doing anything else but politics? He’s a lawyer but who would hire him to practice law? Not a darn person, that’s who.
SHAME
Billy Boy is busted due to his way of dealing… Politicians in hawaii don’t get caught doing bad things unless they pissed off others in Power( True Power) who runs the show in the State..
Billy knows where the bodies are buried but has promised not to tell. Look for him to get off lightly in exchange, perhaps, for his silence.
You believe there’s a conspiracy that big – involving the state AG?
Really?
It’s very unlikely that this case will result in a criminal conviction that withstands appeal. Policies used for P-Card use can be violated (and the state may be able to prove that the Mayor did that) but that kind of violation almost never rises to the level of a crime. The pattern of government oversight (or lack of it) is a fact that can be raised by the defense.
The state seems to be wildly overreaching – they tend to do that for some reason – and it usually backfires on them. Right now, the AG is using the press to sensationalize the case. That usually suggests weakness in the underlying facts.
Last call for alcohol.