Kaneohe man pleads not guilty after alleged beheading threats

A 43-year-old man entered a not-guilty plea Monday to federal allegations that he threatened to behead the Waianae Small Boat Harbor master, his wife and their friend following a dispute over nonpayment of $30,000 in mooring fees by the leader of a militant Hawaiian sovereignty group.

Lindsey Kinney, also known as “Cowboy,” who characterizes himself as a member of the Occupied Forces Hawaii Army, was charged Thursday by superseding indictment with two counts of interstate threat to injure, after he posted the threats on his Instagram and Facebook accounts in January.

The harbor master, a 17-year Army veteran, told Honolulu police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he believed Kinney “is a contract killer based on media reports about Kinney’s prior involvement with Michael Miske,” who is charged with racketeering and related crimes, including murder, according to federal court records.

Kinney’s trial is set for 9 a.m. Dec. 12 before U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson. His attorney, Cassandra L. Stamm, declined comment. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Nolan is prosecuting the case for the government and did not immediately reply to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser request for comment.

If convicted, Kinney faces up to five years in federal prison on each count.

Based on social media postings and an FBI investigation, Occupied Forces Hawaii is a “a group of persons who identify themselves by military titles and ranks who describe their efforts as operations, don military uniforms, carry illegitimate military documents, and maintain their membership in a military organization.”

The charges are connected to the incident in Waianae and evidence uncovered in that investigation of a March 28 online threat to behead an elected official, a member of their security staff and another person. The superseding indictment does not identify the elected official.

The group’s website displays its motto, “Don’t delay, Repatriate today, To the Country of Hawaii.”

On Jan. 5 the harbor master attempted to serve a man identified in court records as Kinney’s “Associate 1” with a citation for owing the state about $30,000 resulting from nonpayment of mooring fees due to his unauthorized mooring of a sailboat he lived on moored in the harbor and from the state’s disposal of a sailboat previously owned by the man. “Associate 1” is a “colonel” of the Occupied Forces Hawaii who lives in Hilo.

While the harbor master and state Department of Land and Natural Resources officials approached the sailboat, “Associate I began yelling that the officials cannot provide him the written notice while his vessel is underway. During the interaction, Associate 1 acted hostile towards the officials” and called them a derogatory name, according to court documents.

The sailboat owner tried to report an “armed encounter” to the U.S. Coast Guard and later posted to his followers on social media asking them to identify the officials, including their home addresses, according to saved social media posts shared with the FBI by the harbor master’s wife.

Twelve days later, on Jan. 17 at about noon, Kinney allegedly posted on his Instagram accounts that he would cut off the heads of the harbor master, his wife and their friend and take them to the “gates,” according to court records.

Three days after that, the harbor master told the FBI that Kinney posted a video stating that DLNR is part of a human trafficking ring and that Kinney will overthrow state government “and then be king,” according to federal court records.

Among Kinney’s threats was a series of long posts, including video messages, threatening the harbor master and DLNR. He also posted threats on the victims’ social media pages.

“All of you will reap what you sow … I’m sending each and everyone of u to the gates for … TREASON … your heads are mines … u going to the gates headless … as our father is waiting for u all patiently … one way trip … Aloha,” Kinney wrote, according to a sworn affidavit by an FBI agent who worked the case.

The harbor master and his wife told FBI agents that they felt threatened by Kinney’s posts and took them so seriously that they “locked their outdoor gates, kept loaded firearms ready and staged at the front door, and rehearsed security procedures with their children due to the threats and Kinney’s association with Michael Miske,” according to a federal criminal complaint.

During an April 19 de­tention hearing, Kinney, through an attorney, tried to assert that he is not subject to U.S. laws due to the illegal occupation and overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom. In a June 24 motion to have Kinney released, his attorney stated that Kinney was “not receiving his prescribed mental health medication while in custody, and this is adversely affecting his ability to assist in his defense,” and that he should be released into the custody of his mother, who agreed to sponsor him.

That motion was denied.