Militia group awaits court response after arrests of members in Kunia

Nine arrests were made on the Kunia property where a group called Occupied Forces Hawaii Army remained, despite being told to vacate June 13.

David Lopes, Dember Afong, Kaiulani Pieper- Mokiao, Kekoa Lopestorres, Anela Lopes Morris, Hicks Lance, Ventura Wong and Travis Mokiao were arrested July 1 on criminal trespassing charges, while Terrence Gomez was cited for driving without a license.

Wong, Hicks and Mokiao were also cited for resisting arrest, while Mokiao was issued a third citation for endangering the welfare of a minor.

The organization’s members have not returned to the Kunia property since the arrests, wrote Alicia Hu‘eu in a written statement sent to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Hu‘eu is an OFHA member.

The Kunia property is owned by Guyland LCC, which had been leasing it to a company called Aloha Pacific Green. Guyland canceled the lease in October, five years early, because OFHA had moved onto the property and was no longer allowing Guyland access to the land.

“Since September of 2021, descendants of the Royal patent holder Namauu (kekuanaoa), have been holding tenancy of their ancestral/kuleana lands,” read another OFHA written statement, signed by member Moanakane‘okauleleaiwi‘ikamokuki‘eki‘e Mokiao.

Tom Berg, who manages the property the group was removed from, declined to comment on the recent events due to the fact that he is waiting to receive ordered court documents, “which needs to be shared to those tracking this matter.”

Berg also manages Hawaii Country Club, also owned by Guyland and adjacent to the Kunia property.

OFHA members said they have reached out to Berg in an effort to regain their belongings that were left on the property, said Frederick Arensmeyer, the attorney representing Guyland.

According to Hu‘eu’s written statement, some of the belongings include housing infrastructure and animals.

Guyland filed an eviction complaint in December against the unknown number of people in Occupied Forces Hawaii Army, according to court documents.

On June 9, Arensmeyer filed a writ of possession, authorizing law enforcement to remove the defendants from the Kunia property.

On June 23, Kaiulani Mokiao, one of the defendants and a member of OFHA, filed a motion in 1st Circuit Court asking for a recusal of their judge. OFHA members have requested an investigation on allegations of judicial misconduct by Judge James McWhinnie, according to Hu‘eu.

“We the defendants who represented ourselves pro se feel we are victims of offensive piracy tactics by the Plaintiff, further enabled by Judge James C. McWhinnie,” Mokiao wrote in his statement to the Star-Advertiser.

Since judgment was filed in the court case, the defendants have filed a number of “frivolous motions,” Arensmeyer said. The motion asking for a recusal should have been filed earlier in the case, he added.

“Had they raised a genuine issue earlier in the case and said, ‘This judge has a conflict,’ then maybe,” Arensmeyer said. “You can’t wait around until the system has run its course and you’ve lost and then claim, ‘Well, the judge was unfair.’”