Officer, ex-prosecutor expect more arrests in Kealoha case

The officer who last month publicly alleged widespread corruption within the Honolulu Police Department said Tuesday that he and his colleagues are thrilled that federal authorities have charged several current and former officers with criminal wrongdoing and are pursuing more leads in an investigation that has rocked Hawaii’s law enforcement community.

“We’re ecstatic,” HPD officer Denny Santiago said of the federal crackdown, expecting it to help reform the department. “We’re hoping more will get arrested.”

Santiago made headlines early last month when he told the Honolulu Police Commission that corruption was widespread within the department, a double standard existed for those not part of former Chief Louis Kealoha’s circle of supporters and that anyone who spoke up against wrongdoing was retaliated against.

The federal indictment last week of Kealoha; his wife, city deputy prosecutor Katherine Kealoha; and four former or current HPD officers was welcomed by Santiago and his colleagues, according to Santiago, a 47-year-old corporal in HPD’s East Honolulu district.

“For the most part we’re all happy,” he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a phone interview.

Federal authorities say the Kealohas used their power and influence as government officials to commit fraud and then led a conspiracy to hide their actions from federal investigators, prosecutors and a grand jury.

The federal probe started nearly three years ago after the Kealohas accused Gerard Puana, Katherine Kealoha’s uncle, of stealing the mailbox at their Kahala home.

The five former or current officers implicated in the case worked at one time for HPD’s secretive Criminal Intelligence Unit, which reported directly to the chief, who handpicked its members. None still works in the unit, which focuses on terrorism and organized crime and currently has 19 officers.

Four of the implicated former or current officers, along with the Kealohas, have pleaded not guilty. The fifth, retired officer Niall Silva, pleaded guilty in December to conspiring with other HPD officers and Katherine Kealoha to frame Puana for the mailbox theft.

Following the Kealohas’ arrest and initial court appearance last week, prosecutors said the indictment was just the beginning and that the continuing investigation could lead to further charges.

Santiago said he expects more arrests, given that HPD officers from outside the intelligence unit assisted in the mailbox case and that some of them or their supervisors likely knew of the alleged conspiracy.

In a departure from normal procedure, two homicide detectives and officers not part of the district where the alleged theft occurred assisted in the investigation, according to Santiago.

“Certain people must have known what was going on,” he said. “The web is a little too close.”

Santiago speculated that investigators are examining phone and text records as part of their effort to piece together who else participated in the alleged conspiracy.

Given what federal authorities have alleged thus far, former Mayor and Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said he also expects more arrests.

“This behavior was wider spread than I thought originally,” he told the Star-Advertiser.

Carlisle said he finds it hard to believe that other officers within HPD were unaware of what was happening, or at the least should have been aware of the alleged wrongdoing.