Ex-IBEW member pleads guilty to conspiracy

One of four former employees of an electrical workers union pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States, in exchange for testimony against a former union boss.

Michael Brittain was arraigned in federal court in Honolulu and pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge Wes Porter.

He will be sentenced at 2 p.m. Jan. 16.

Brittain surrendered his passport and remained free on an unsecured $10,000 bond, as agreed to by the government.

The government’s primary target is Brian Ahakuelo, former business manager and financial secretary for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1260, which represents about 3,000 electrical workers in Hawaii and Guam.

He, his wife and her sister pleaded not guilty Aug. 28 to charges of a 70-count indictment that include wire fraud for using union dues for personal expenses and for rigging results of a vote to hike union dues.

The scheme netted more than $3.7 million.

The indictment alleges he depleted the union’s surplus of more than $700,000 in 2010, leaving a net deficit of more than $700,000.

According to a plea agreement filed Friday, Brittain agreed to plead guilty that he conspired to cause a false entry in a record required to be maintained by a labor union.

In return, the government agreed not to file additional charges against him from his participation in falsifying the Local 1260 vote to increase union dues.

Brittain faces imprisonment of up to a year, a maximum fine of $10,000 and up to a year of supervised release.

He, Russell Yamanoha, Daniel Rose and Lee Ann Miyamura rigged the vote by filling out fake “yes” ballots on Jan. 29, 2015, at the Guam Hilton.

Brittain checked members in at the meeting the next day. After the vote he went out to where Rose hid in a vehicle and gave him an envelope containing the real ballots cast.

Rose then gave Brittain an envelope full of the fake ballots.

Yamanoha and Rose pleaded guilty earlier this week. Miyamura will be arraigned Sept. 19.