The alleged head of a
Hawaii crime syndicate operating since the late 1990s and six purported co-
conspirators pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a third superseding indictment ahead of their trial in April.
Michael J. Miske Jr., John B. Stancil, Dae Han Moon, Preston M. Kimoto, Delia-
Anne Fabro-Miske, Jarrin Young and Jason K. Yokoyama entered pleas of not guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth J. Mansfield. The group was named in the indictment filed Dec. 8.
Their trial is set for
April 17 before U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson.
Kimoto, Fabro-Miske and Yokoyama are not in custody while the others are
detained pending trial at
the Federal Detention Center Honolulu. Kimoto’s attorney, Cynthia A. Kagiwada, declined comment. Attorneys for the others named
in the third superseding indictment did not immediately return a Honolulu Star-Advertiser request for comment.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael D. Nammar, Micah Smith and Mark A. Inciong, who are prosecuting the case for the government,
did not immediately reply
to a Star-Advertiser request for comment.
Miske was indicted
June 18, 2020, with Stancil, Kaulana Freitas, Lance
Bermudez, Moon, Kimoto, Harry Kauhi, Norman Akau III, Hunter Wilson and Young and accused of
conspiring with them to run the “Miske Enterprise” through racketeering
activity including murder,
kidnapping, arson and
robbery, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The indictment, a superseding indictment unsealed July 15, 2021, and the third superseding indictment also alleges murder for hire; the use of chemical weapons; extortionate credit transactions; racketeering; interference with commerce through robbery and extortion; methamphetamine, cocaine and cannabis trafficking; wire fraud; fraud in connection with identification documents; financial institution fraud; violations of the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act; money laundering; and obstruction of justice.
The DOJ alleges that Miske mistakenly believed that Jonathan Fraser, then 21, was the driver of the car the night Miske’s son was injured in a crash on Kaneohe Bay Drive on Nov. 15, 2015. Fraser,
Caleb-Jordan Miske-Lee’s best friend, was a passenger in the car and Miske-Lee died of his injuries in March 2016.
Fraser disappeared July 30, 2016, and his car was found on Kuliouou Road. He was allegedly kidnapped, killed, wrapped in a large fish bag and dumped at sea, according to federal court documents. The white Toyota Sienna van used to transport Fraser’s body was abandoned and burned.
One of Miske’a attorneys, Lynn E. Panagakos, told Mansfield’s court in May that there are text messages and other evidence of interactions between a Homeland Security Investigations special agent and Fraser’s mother, father and a cooperating witness that show Fraser’s family believed his pregnant girlfriend and her father were responsible for his disappearance.
Fabro-Miske is charged with bank fraud, and Yokoyama, co-owner of a nightclub and other businesses with Miske, of murder, kidnapping, arson, wire fraud, illegal structuring of cash transactions and bank fraud. Wilson and Akau III entered guilty pleas and are cooperating with the government.
Miske, 47, is detained at the Honolulu Federal Detention Center on 17 charges that include racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, robbery, murder for hire conspiracy, firearms, chemical weapons, drugs and bank fraud.
