Russell Yamanoha’s employment as a spokesman for the Honolulu rail authority is “unchanged” despite his guilty plea this week to a federal conspiracy charge for falsifying the results of a union election, according to rail Director of Communications Bill Brennan.

Yamanoha, 52, is a former TV sports anchor who has been an information specialist with the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation since 2017. He earns $88,248 a year in that role, according to HART.

On Tuesday Yamanoha pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor conspiracy charge for working with other union members to rig an election at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1260 on Guam on Jan. 29, 2015. Yamanoha was director of media for the union at the time.

According to federal court records, he and three others met in the Guam Hilton to prepare fake ballots indicating “yes” votes for a proposal to more than double union dues. Later that day they replaced the real ballots from the election with fake ones to assure that the dues increase was approved.

Randy Roth, a retired University of Hawaii law professor and longtime critic of the Honolulu rail project, said it is “a little bizarre” that Yamanoha would still be employed by the rail authority.

Roth noted HART is the subject of its own federal criminal investigation that involves the FBI, and a federal grand jury issued subpoenas for tens of thousands of HART documents this year. Federal authorities also subpoenaed several HART employees for interviews, but it is unclear exactly what the focus of the investigation might be.

HART is “an organization that has given the public lots of reasons over a number of years to distrust it,” Roth said.

A spokesman for Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said the city is investigating the matter. Brennan said HART Executive Director Andrew Robbins will discuss Yamanoha’s employment status today.

Yamanoha’s plea to a misdemeanor conspiracy charge is part of a deal with prosecutors who agreed not to charge him with additional crimes provided he cooperates in a larger case.

A federal grand jury returned a 70-count indictment last month charging then-IBEW Local 1260 Business Manager/Financial Secretary Brian Ahakuelo; his wife, Marilyn Ahakuelo; and his sister-in-law, Jennifer Estencion, with criminal conspiracy and wire fraud for allegedly using union dues for personal expenses, and for rigging the election. All three pleaded not guilty, and their cases are scheduled for trial in October.

According to the indictment, the Ahakuelos spent union money on personal travel, to purchase a pickup truck for Marilyn Ahakuelo and to pay the union salary of a son-in-law as training coordinator for a nonexistent training program.