Family of disabled woman loses thousands in forged deed scam

The Kuwale Road property taken in forged deed scam

By Daryl Huff

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A Waianae family lost their disabled relative’s one-acre property to alleged title theft despite working with attorneys to gain legal guardianship and sell the home to pay for her care.

Betsy and her husband lived together on the Waianae property until he died and she became disabled from Alzheimer’s and dementia. The family rushed to sell the property to generate money for her care, but alleged title thieves acted first.

“The entire situation was tragic,” said attorney Summer Shelverton, who was helping the family members get guardianship in 2022 so they could sell the property and four-bedroom house.

Fraudulent transfer discovered after guardianship granted

The family hoped the property was worth more than $600,000, but accused title thief Eldon Simer moved quickly.

Within a month of the family gaining access to the property as conservators and guardians, they learned it was fraudulently transferred.

The title was clear on Aug. 1, 2022. Just 16 days later, Simer recorded a forged deed with the Bureau of Conveyances. When the family discovered the fraud in September, they filed a document hoping to block any sale. But 11 days later, Iron Wood Finance of Texas paid Simer $350,000 for the entire property.

“It was constantly a case of catch-up,” Shelverton said. “As soon as we learned the property was fraudulently conveyed, we’d go back and oh, it was now inappropriately sold.”

Police said fraud wasn’t criminal matter

The family had clear evidence. The notary said her seal was forged and she hadn’t witnessed the signatures. Within days they called police and were told it wasn’t a crime.

“They weren’t quite sure how to address and that their hands were tied,” Shelverton said.

The house mysteriously burned down a couple of months later.

“So to say that it was a shock, almost nothing was a shock at that point,” Shelverton said.

Simer was investigated by the attorney general’s office and indicted for insurance fraud for filing a $290,000 claim for the fire as well as multiple charges for title theft of the Waianae property and two others and is being held without bail.

State House consumer protection chair and attorney Scot Matayoshi said rightful owners on their own have little power to prevent a sale, even from a fraudulent owner.

“If someone wants to buy it, knowing that other action might be pending, people can still buy the property if they’d like,” Matayoshi said.

On its website, Iron Wood Finance offers “easy money” for real estate, says it accepts 90 percent of applicants and can finish deals in as little as 48 hours.

“I certainly think that these quick acting companies are allowing these crimes to be facilitated, but they’re doing it at their own risk too,” Matayoshi said.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

Iron Wood defended its title and sold the property last year for $425,000. The family settled with the company, collecting far less money for Betsy’s care than they had hoped. 

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Family of disabled woman loses thousands in forged deed scam 

Man, 27, arrested for allegedly assaulting elderly man

by: Cameron Macedonio

HONOLULU (KHON2) — A 27-year-old man has been indicted for Assault in the First Degree after allegedly beating a 69-year-old man in Waikīkī, the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office said.

Officials said that the suspect, Helkena Carland, allegedly assaulted the victim on Sept. 1 in a retail store on Seaside Avenue.

“Elder abuse is a deplorable crime and we are committed to pursuing justice in this case,” Prosecutor Steve Alm said. “We strive to ensure that our community is safe, especially for our most vulnerable citizens.”

Carland’s charge is a Class B felony and comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. However, due to the victim’s age, Carland could be subjected to an enhanced sentencing of a maximum 20 years in prison.

The suspect is being held on a $60,000 bail. 

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Man, 27, arrested for allegedly assaulting elderly man 

Former Honolulu Attorney Indicted In Alleged $1.5 Million Probate Fraud

By Ian Lind

Robert Earl Chapman, a former managing partner at one of Hawaii’s largest law firms, has been indicted on 22 counts including forgery, theft, and identity theft in connection with an alleged scheme to seize control of more than $1 million from a deceased Honolulu resident’s estate.

Chapman, a graduate of the University of Maryland law school, was licensed to practice law in Hawaii in 1980. He became a named partner in the firm, then known as Stanton, Clay, Tom & Chapman, Attorneys At Law, in 1987, and later served as managing director of the firm, then known as Clay Chapman Iwamura Pulice & Nervell. He resigned from the practice of law in lieu of discipline in 2022.

The grand jury indictment was filed in Honolulu’s First Circuit Court on Friday morning, June 20. It was based on an investigation by the attorney general’s office. The Grand Jury Bench Warrant sets bail at $1 million.

A grand jury indictment is a one-sided process, based only on the prosecutors’ version of events and interpretation of the evidence. It means that the grand jury believed there was enough evidence to bring charges, but is not proof that any crimes have occurred.

Court records do not indicate whether Chapman has retained an attorney, and he has not yet had an opportunity to respond to the charges or enter a plea in the case.

According to the indictment, Chapman allegedly accessed confidential personal information of Robert Boulette without authorization on or about October 19, 2018. Then, “with intent to defraud,” Chapman allegedly created or altered what “purported to be the will and codicil of Robert Boulette” which he then used to take control of the accounts and properties making up Boulette’s estate.

None of the offense were “discovered prior to January 13, 2023, by either an aggrieved party or a person who has a legal duty to represent an aggrieved party,” the indictment states.

Boulette died in Honolulu in November 2016 at age 77. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Boulette served in the Navy and later worked for the Naval Audit Service until his retirement, according to an obituary in the Portland Oregonian newspaper. After retiring in the mid-1990s, Boulette made Honolulu his home, but traveled extensively.

Neither Chapman nor his law firm represented Boulette in any court case prior to his death, court records show. However, Chapman handled many estates and trusts, and was the contact person in numerous probate proceedings, according to a review of published legal notices. The indictment does not indicate where or how Chapman accessed Boulette’s confidential personal information, and whether the information was taken from the firm’s own records.

On October 24, 2018, Chapman filed an application to be named personal representative and to proceed with informal probate of Boulette’s will and a codicil amending the will, court records show. Informal probate usually sidesteps court supervision, which would have been an advantage if the intent was to defraud Boulette’s estate. The indictment alleges either or both of the documents, the will and codicil, were fraudulently created or altered, but does not provide further specifics. Legal notices of Chapman’s application were published in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on three consecutive Thursdays in November 2018.

The indictment alleges Chapman then used the fraudulent documents to gain control over nearly $1.5 million in accounts and property, including substantial sums Boulette intended to benefit three charities–the Make a Wish Foundation, Elderhostel Inc., and the Portland State University Alumni Association.

The indictment does not identify the specific accounts or properties Chapman is alleged to have improperly controlled, although it reports their respective values.

However, real estate records show that at the time of Boulette’s death in late 2016, he owned a small 1 bedroom-1 bath apartment in the Nuuanu Brookside condominium. On May 29, 2020, two years after Chapman applied to serve as the personal representative of Boulette’s estate, the leasehold apartment was transferred from Boulette’s estate to a new entity, NuBrook LLC.

State business registration records show NuBrook LLC had been registered to do business just three weeks before it took title to Boulette’s interest in the Brookside condominium. Chapman was listed as NuBrook’s sole member and manager, and was registered at the address of Chapman’s law firm. Chapman signed the assignment of lease document as the personal representative of Boulette’s estate, and as manager of NuBrook LLC.

In May 2023, the apartment was sold to a private buyer for $395,000, real estate records show.

This appears to be the transaction corresponds to Count 22 of the indictment, which charges Chapman with first degree theft for allegedly diverting $362,566.13 from Boulette’s estate to his own benefit in 2023. The amount may represent the net selling price of the Nuuanu Brookside apartment after paying fees and costs of the sale.

The charges against Chapman appear to mirror those detailed in the 2022 case brought by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which ended Chapman’s legal career. In that case, which did not involve criminal charges, Chapman admitted to the misconduct.

ODC launched its investigation after receiving a complaint alleging Chapman had “wrongfully attempted to lay claim to approximately $2,000,000.00 in abandoned property held by the Hawai’i Department of Budget and Finance….”

The abandoned property belonged to a former client whose company he had represented in the 1980s. He had never met the client, and had not even had any indirect contact with her for three decades. After questions were raised about Chapman’s application to claim the property on behalf of the client, a handwriting analyst retained by the Attorney General’s office determined that a power of attorney Chapman used in an attempt to legitimate his claim was a forgery.

ODC completed its investigation and initiated formal disciplinary proceedings against Chapman in October 2022. A month later, Chapman submitted a legal declaration admitting the allegations were true and offering to resign in lieu of discipline while the charges against him were pending. ODC then filed a petition in open court asking the Hawaii Supreme Court to approve Chapman’s request, which made public its previously confidential 37-page petition for discipline spelling out the allegations and evidence.

The Supreme Court agreed, finding Chapman’s misconduct had entailed “egregious violations” of the court’s Rules of Professional Conduct. No criminal charges were filed in that case.

Two subsequent lawsuits were later filed against Chapman and his former firm by former clients alleging legal malpractice, breach of contract, and other offenses. Both ended with confidential settlements. 

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Former Honolulu Attorney Indicted In Alleged $1.5 Million Probate Fraud 

FBI Internet Crime Report Shows Jump in Hawai`i Losses

 Hawai`i residents and businesses reported losing $51.7 million to internet crimes in 2023, a huge 45 percent increase over the $35.8 million reported in 2022. The number of Hawai`i complaints reported also increased from 1,703 in 2022 to 1,954 last year, a 15 percent increase.

The internet crime losses and complaints in Hawai`i are growing faster than the national average, according to the annual FBI Internet Crime Report, released earlier this month. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center said it received over 880,000 complaints last year with potential losses exceeding $12.5 billion nationally. That’s about a 10 percent increase in complaints from 2022 and a 22 percent increase in losses.

“The actual amount of fraud losses to internet crimes is likely much higher because many people and businesses don’t report crimes to authorities,” said AARP Hawai`i State Director Keali`i Lopez. “That’s why AARP Hawai`i tries to educate kupuna and their loved ones about fraud prevention through the AARP Fraud Watch Network (aarp.org/fraudwatch).”

The top three crime types most frequently reported by victims were phishing/spoofing, personal data breach, and non-payment/non-delivery. The new FBI report says top three crime types reported by victims of fraud loss are investment scams, business email compromise (BEC), and tech support scams. Phishing and spoofing schemes had over 298,000 complaints reported in 2023. Personal data breaches had over 55,000 complaints reported, and non-payment/non-delivery scams had 50,000 complaints.

The top three crime types reported by victims of fraud loss were investment scams, business email compromise (BEC), and tech support scams.

“Education can help protect ourselves, our workplaces and loved ones from fraud,” said Paul Greenwood, a former elder abuse prosecutor and AARP fraud speaker, who is coming to Hawai`i for a series of Fight Fraud Together seminars on Kauai, Hawai`i Island, Oahu and Maui April 22^nd through April 26. The seminars will look at some of Hawai`i’s top frauds and strategies for spotting and avoiding fraud and financial exploitation.

Register for the free seminars and an April 5 webinar at 10:30 a.m. with Amy Nofziger, AARP Fraud Watch Network’s director of victim support, at events.aarp.org/hifraud24 or go to aarp.org/local or the AARP Hawai`i Facebook page to see all the events AARP is offering.

“At the Fraud Watch Network, we’re seeing an increase in cryptocurrency scams and online commerce scams targeting both sellers and victims,” Nofziger said. “Our Anatomy of a Scam webinar will take an in-depth look at internet and social media marketplace scams.”

Nationally, investment fraud was the biggest source of lost money, rising to $4.57 billion in 2023, a 38% increase from 2022. Within these numbers, crypto-investment fraud losses rose to $3.94 billion in 2023, a 53% increase from 2022. Business email complaints amounted to $2.9 billion in reported losses, and tech support scams were the third highest losses with over $924 million reported stolen.

Victims 30 to 49 years old were the most likely group to report losses from investment fraud, while those over 60 accounted for well over half of losses to tech support scams.

Ransomware continued to be damaging and impactful in 2023. IC3 received over 2,800 ransomware complaints and losses rose to $59.6 million, a 74% increase from last year. The critical infrastructure most reported as impacted by ransomware were health care and public health, critical manufacturing, and government facilities.

In a news release, the FBI said the Internet Crime Complaint Center gives the public a direct way to report cyber threats, complex financial crimes and other online threats. The FBI encourages victims to report suspected internet crimes at ic3.gov.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center was established in May 2000 to receive complaints of online-related crimes. Since its inception, IC3 has received over eight million complaints.

The FBI recommends that the public frequently review consumer and industry alerts published by the Internet Crime Complaint Center.

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FBI Internet Crime Report Shows Jump in Hawai`i Losses

Couple dead at Hawaii assisted living center; note found

by JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER

HONOLULU (AP) — An elderly couple with gunshot wounds died Tuesday at a Hawaii assisted living center and a note was left behind indicating they took their lives, police said.

Honolulu Police Lt. Deena Thoemmes declined to detail the note's contents. She said police are investigating whether it was a murder-suicide or two suicides.

The 86-year-old woman was a resident of The Plaza at Waikiki, while her 92-year-old husband lived nearby, Thoemmes said. The husband was visiting his wife in a sitting area of the facility's garage.

According to its website, it has room for up to 170 residents, offering month-to-month senior rentals in private studio, private one-bedroom and shared suites.

The same company that operates the facility also runs similar senior homes in five other locations in and around Honolulu.

Company officials didn't immediately return messages from The Associated Press.

Honolulu Emergency Medical Services spokeswoman Shayne Enright said the man and woman were pronounced dead at the scene.

Autopsies of the couple are scheduled for Wednesday, Thoemmes said.

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Couple dead at Hawaii assisted living center; note found

Charges dismissed for woman accused of stealing from fund

WAILUKU — A Maui woman charged with illegally taking money from a fund set up for the care of her daughter has been ordered to repay a bank nearly $173,000.

Prosecutors said Elizabeth Gentile forged an attorney’s signature and stole money from a bank conservatorship account set up for the care of her daughter from June 2011 to May 2013, the Maui News reported.

“Nineteen times she forged her daughter’s attorney’s name as a signature on withdrawal slips,” said Deputy Prosecutor Justine Hura at sentencing. “Nineteen times she submitted these forged withdrawal slips to the bank. And 19 times she used these illegal withdrawals to move her daughter’s protected money to her own account.”

Gentile withdrew amounts ranging from $4,000 to $21,000, Hura said.

Gentile’s daughter’s attorney discovered unauthorized activity on May 3, 2013, and reported it.

Gentile pleaded no contest to theft, contempt of court and 19 counts of forgery. Prosecutors in a plea agreement did not seek prison time or oppose Gentile’s request for a chance to avoid conviction if she complies with court requirements over five years. Pursuant to Hawaii law, the court deferred further proceedings pending her completion of terms imposed by the judge. The record reflects that charges were ultimately dismissed, effective October 2019.

Gentile’s daughter, a second-grader in 2004, broke her right femur in a fall on May 21, 2004, on a wet cafeteria floor at Haiku Elementary School. She was left permanently disabled and unable to walk.

Gentile sued, claiming the girl was pushed. The lawsuit said school officials knew she suffered from juvenile arthritis and did not properly supervise the girl.

School officials had a plan in place to allow the girl to go to lunch early, but on the day she fell, a substitute teacher was supervising the class.

A judge in August 2009 after a nonjury trial ordered the state to pay $787,397 to the girl and $100,000 to her mother.

Territorial Savings Bank opened a conservatorship to hold the money awarded to the girl. The bank was ordered to restore the account. Gentile was ordered to pay restitution to the bank, Hura said.

The bank sought “a substantial prison term” for Gentile at her Oct. 30 sentencing.

———

This story was first published on Nov. 10, 2014. It was updated on Dec. 14, 2020, to correct that a Maui woman was not convicted of financial crimes. She pleaded no contest to the charges and, pursuant to Hawaii law, the court deferred further proceedings pending her completion of terms imposed by the judge. The record reflects that charges were ultimately dismissed, effective October 2019.

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Charges dismissed for woman accused of stealing from fund

A prosecutor and police chief were adored in their community. Then their scheme unraveled.

Retired Honolulu police chief Louis Kealoha and his then-wife, Katherine, leave federal court in Honolulu on Oct. 20, 2017. (Caleb Jones/AP)

By Kim Bellware

What’s described as the biggest corruption case in Hawaii’s history started with a stolen mailbox and unspooled into a seven-year legal saga that concluded Monday with a once-esteemed Honolulu power couple handed 13 and seven-year prison sentences for conspiracy, bank fraud and other charges.

For federal public defender Alexander Silvert, who has since retired, it began in 2013 with a low-level crime and a familiar plea. Gerard Puana, accused of stealing his niece’s mailbox, insisted he was being framed.

Silvert was appointed to the case, which he quickly sized up as a loser: Puana’s accusers were his popular and powerful niece, Katherine Kealoha, the third-ranking boss in the Honolulu prosecutor’s office, and her husband, Louis, the Honolulu police chief.

They claimed to have Puana on video committing the crime.

“I took the case assuming he was guilty but that I could help him avoid being over-sentenced,” Silvert told The Washington Post. Still, he found the case unusual from the start. “In my entire career, I’ve never heard of a charge of a mailbox theft going to federal court.”

Silvert, and later federal investigators, would reveal how the Kealohas leveraged their powerful roles in law enforcement to frame Puana and cover up an array of schemes that fueled a lavish lifestyle at the expense of those who trusted them most.

Among the victims was Florence Puana, Katherine’s 100-year-old grandmother; Puana lost her home of 58 years after Katherine pocketed the money from a reverse mortgage plot. Before Florence died in February, she wrote a letter to Katherine that was read in court during sentencing Monday.

“I trusted you,” Florence wrote her granddaughter. “Yet you betrayed me.”

Reversing the flow

Katherine Kealoha oversaw investments for those in her orbit, including her uncle and grandmother. She was even put in charge of the trust funds for the surviving 10- and 12-year-old children of a family friend who died. But under her control, the money never grew — it disappeared.

Court records show the Kealohas’ expenses included Maserati and Mercedes car payments, a trip to Disneyland and $2,000 concert tickets to see Elton John. In 2009, Katherine racked up a $23,976 brunch tab at the Sheraton Waikiki to fete Louis after he was appointed police chief.

To conceal the fraud, Katherine invented a notary and faked witness signatures on financial documents; she filed bogus identity-theft claims to deflect negative questions about the couple’s credit history; she had statements for the reverse mortgage diverted to a P.O. box that only she could access.

The Puanas learned of the fraud only because of an administrative error: When the mortgage debt was sold to a new company several years on, the new statements were mistakenly sent to the property address instead of the P.O. box.

Florence Puana, by then in her 90s, realized that Katherine hadn’t paid off any of the outstanding balance as promised and that she was about to lose her home. Alleging elder and financial abuse, the Puanas filed a lawsuit against Katherine.

Watch your back

Initially, the lawsuit against the Kealohas didn’t raise eyebrows in the community, where there was little appetite for seeing a prominent native Hawaiian couple disgraced.

“The community adored them — and they were very powerful people,” said Lynn Kawano, a reporter and anchor for KGMB/KHNL Hawaii News Now. “Not just because of their titles, but because of their family. Your family name goes a long way here.”

Kawano, a Hawaii native, told The Post that she faced pushback in the early days of covering the case. Some encouraged her to drop the story altogether and told her and her husband to “watch their backs.”

By 2016, two years after the mailbox arrest, the corruption allegations were gaining traction, but the community still clung to doubts.

“People told me, ‘No way is this about a mailbox,' ” Kawano said. The couple’s supporters found ways to rationalize how even top-ranking public employees could afford luxury cars, Rolex watches and a home in the tony suburb of Kahala, considered the “Beverly Hills of Honolulu.”

A wealthy local lawyer who estimated his income as being three times that of the Kealohas, encouraged Kawano to keep digging, she recalls. “He told me, 'I can’t even afford to live in that neighborhood.’ ”

Attention from Honolulu police

Facing pressure from the lawsuit, the Kealohas devised a countermeasure to intimidate and discredit Katherine’s uncle, Silvert said.

The couple told police that Gerard Puana stole their mailbox, worth $380 — a value that would bump petty theft to a felony charge. Tying in the U.S. mail would make it a federal case, while their surveillance video (which would later be revealed as doctored) would easily lock a conviction against him.

A felony conviction might silence Puana, or at least provide ammunition to weaken and discredit him as a witness in the civil trial, Silvert said.

But the plan started to fall apart under basic fact-checking. The suspect in the grainy surveillance footage looked younger and smaller than Puana. Appraisers and investigators found the Kealohas had lied about the type of mailbox they owned and falsely claimed one of higher value in an apparent effort to crack the $300 threshold for felony theft charges.

Silvert combed through old photos from Google Maps to prove that the mailbox that was stolen in the setup was a different brand entirely — and cost less than $200. Plus, he couldn’t square why that crime would attract so much attention from Honolulu police.

“There was a homicide detective assigned to investigate a petty mailbox theft,” Silvert said. Eventually, he was able to prove that every police report — from the Kealohas’ initial 911 call to logs the assigned officers kept — had been falsified.

‘Rue the day’

At Puana’s theft trial in 2014, the U.S. attorneys in Honolulu planned to cast him as an embittered schemer in contrast to the Kealohas’ status as pillars of the community. To undercut that narrative, Silvert opened with what he calls the “rue the day letter.”

“HOW DARE ANYONE make such MALICIOUS and FALSE STATEMENTS against me!” read a letter Katherine wrote in response to her grandmother’s lawsuit. “They will rue the day that they decided to state these TWISTED LIES!”

“We were well-prepared for trial thinking we could convince the jury,” Silvert said. But in the second hour of the trial, the unthinkable happened.

On the stand, Louis, the police chief, introduced prohibited testimony, which caused a mistrial. Silvert and other observers believe it was done on purpose.

“The chief has a master’s degree in criminal justice and years of experience. He trains rookie cops on how to testify,” Silvert said.

Kawano, the reporter, was sitting behind Silvert in the courtroom and recalled how the federal public defender “threw his arms up and slammed both fists on the table.”

Silvert remembers it the same way. Furious, he soon made the unusual move to reach out to the opposition — the FBI. He hoped that if Puana’s case didn’t get retried, federal investigators could still expose the Kealohas.

“When you meet with the FBI, who I cross-examine and call liars all the time, you can imagine it was a very difficult meeting,” Silvert said. But the investigation eventually gained traction.

Honolulu’s U.S. attorney’s office recused itself, having prosecuted Puana’s case. Federal prosecutors from the Southern District of California stepped in and spent five years investigating before securing convictions and guilty pleas from the Kealohas last year, along with conspiracy and obstruction convictions against two former police officers in the Honolulu Police Department’s Criminal Intelligence Unit acting at Louis’s behest; both were sentenced to prison.

The Kealohas’ unraveling has been met with sadness and anger. Kawano said it was a blow to Honolulu’s Hawaiian community but also a hit to the taxpayers, who will shoulder the “millions” in city and county settlements to the couple’s victims. Together, they are also liable for at least a combined $455,000 in restitution to victims.

“There’s a lot of anger now — how could this have happened? Why was there no oversight?” she said.

Michael Wheat, the special prosecutor from the California U.S. attorney’s office, said the Kealohas’ situation was unique.

“I don’t think you’d see again where the police department and the prosecutor’s office is literally the same family,” he told The Post.

The Kealohas are no longer the family they once were, with some members now estranged — including Katherine and Louis. After their 2019 convictions, Louis filed for divorce.

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A prosecutor and police chief were adored in their community. Then their scheme unraveled.

Former Prosecutor and Police Chief Sentenced for Framing Their Relative with a Crime to Conceal Their Own Fraud

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Southern District of California

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, November 30, 2020

Former Prosecutor and Police Chief Sentenced for Framing Their Relative with a Crime to Conceal Their Own Fraud

Special Attorneys Michael Wheat (619) 546-8437, Joseph Orabona (619) 546-7951, Janaki Chopra (619) 546-8817, and Colin McDonald (619) 546-9144

NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY – November 30, 2020

HONOLULU, Hawaii – Former prosecutor Katherine Kealoha and former police chief Louis Kealoha were sentenced during separate hearings in federal court today to 13 years and seven years in prison, respectively, following a number of convictions, including conspiring to frame a relative with a crime to conceal their own fraud.

Chief U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright of the District of Hawaii also ordered the Kealohas to pay $454,984.78 and $237,698.56, respectively, in restitution to their victims, and ordered forfeiture of property representing proceeds of fraud, including the Kealohas’ former home in Honolulu, a Rolex watch, and $228,746.79. Katherine Kealoha is already in custody; Louis Kealoha was ordered to report to prison on April 12, 2021.

Judge Seabright rebuked the Kealohas for their “grotesque deprivation of civil rights,” which “staggered the community in many ways” and had “truly shaken confidence in our governing institutions.” He further remarked that “the Kealohas used their power to nurture, feed, and conceal their corrupt activity.”

The sentences imposed today mark the end of a series of criminal cases against the Kealohas. In June 2019, after six weeks of trial and one day of deliberation, a federal jury in Honolulu convicted the Honolulu power couple and Honolulu police officers Derek Hahn and Minh-Hung “Bobby” Nguyen of conspiracy and attempted obstruction of justice pertaining to the false arrest and prosecution of Katherine’s uncle, Gerard Puana. The evidence at trial established that the Kealohas used their considerable power, including commandeering the Honolulu Police Department’s elite Criminal Intelligence Unit, to frame Gerard with stealing their mailbox. To accomplish this, the conspirators prepped the mailbox to be “stolen,” selectively edited grainy surveillance video to conceal their preparatory acts, falsely identified Gerard as the culprit captured by the video, falsified police reports, withheld and destroyed evidence, and repeatedly lied about their activity to investigators, the federal grand jury, and the District Court for the District of Hawaii.

The Kealohas’ motive for framing Gerard was to discredit and intimidate him after he accused Katherine Kealoha of fraud. Trial evidence established that Katherine stole over $200,000 from him and Katherine’s elderly grandmother, Florence Puana. Acting as her grandmother’s “attorney,” Katherine convinced Florence—who was 89 years old at the time—to place a reverse mortgage on Florence’s family home. Katherine promised Florence that she would pay off the reverse mortgage after using some of the proceeds to consolidate the Kealohas’ debt. Instead, unbeknownst to Florence, Katherine funneled the reverse mortgage proceeds into a bank account that Katherine controlled. And within seven months, the Kealohas drained the account dry—spending over $148,000 on various personal expenses, including mortgage payments, Elton John concert tickets, Mercedes and Maserati car payments, a trip to Disneyland, and a $23,976 brunch tab at the Sheraton Waikiki to celebrate Louis Kealoha’s induction as Honolulu Police Chief in 2009. In the meantime, Katherine made no payments on the reverse mortgage, allowed the balance to balloon out of control, and diverted mortgage statements away from Florence’s mailbox to keep Florence from finding out. Once Florence did find out—almost a year and a half later—she was forced to sell her family home.

After they learned of the missing money and ballooning mortgage, Florence and Gerard confronted Katherine Kealoha about her actions. Katherine responded indignantly, threatening in a letter to seek “the highest form of legal retribution against ANYONE and EVERYONE who has written or verbally uttered those LIES about me!” True to her word, after Florence and Gerard filed a civil lawsuit against her, Katherine attempted to have Florence declared legally incompetent, and Katherine and her co-conspirators had Gerard arrested for a crime he did not commit. At Gerard’s theft trial, Louis Kealoha testified falsely that Gerard was the person displayed taking the mailbox in the grainy surveillance video. “That’s what makes this case so shocking: this could not have succeeded but for you and your position,” Judge Seabright told Louis Kealoha.

“Today, after years of manipulating the levers of justice to shroud their own crimes, justice was delivered to two corrupt public officials,” said U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer. “This was a flagrant and stunning abuse of power that victimized an entire community by undermining public confidence in its leaders and the rule of law. If not for the initial dogged investigation by former First Assistant Federal Defender Alexander Silvert, who brought this matter to the attention of federal authorities, followed by incredible work by FBI agents and prosecutors Michael Wheat, Joseph Orabona, Janaki Chopra and Colin McDonald, the Kealohas would still be manipulating justice, not meeting it.”

“Our citizens entrust public servants with great powers and authorities. It is our responsibility to serve our community with integrity and authenticity – with truth and justice as our hallmark,” said Special Agent in Charge Eli S. Miranda. “The Kealohas betrayed this trust for their own selfish entitlements, using deception and breaking the same laws they swore to uphold. The FBI will enthusiastically continue to investigate any corrupt public official who willfully and maliciously abuse their office.”

Today’s sentences also accounted for separate crimes committed by the Kealohas. In October 2019, Katherine pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony after using her position of authority within the city prosecutor’s office to actively conceal the drug distribution activities of her brother, Rudolph B. Puana, an anesthesiologist in Hawaii. In her plea agreement, Katherine admitted she arranged to have herself assigned as the prosecutor overseeing the investigation of her brother’s co-conspirators and that she cultivated a close relationship with one co-conspirator—a defendant Katherine was then prosecuting—to reduce the likelihood that the individual would reveal Rudolph Puana’s role in the drug conspiracy. “I always got ur back, I love you and will protect you always!!!” read one private text message Katherine sent to the defendant she was prosecuting. “GO TEAM!!! Can’t wait for this s*** to be over,” read another, to which the defendant replied, “Ditto[.] Then we’re free[.]”

Finally, in October 2019, the Kealohas pleaded guilty to bank fraud. As part of their pleas, the Kealohas admitted that between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2014, they spent more than $591,000 derived from stolen funds or loan proceeds obtained through fraud. Their bank fraud scheme included falsely claiming assets that belonged to others (including money belonging to children over whom Katherine had been appointed guardian), falsely inflating their monthly income, and falsely denying derogatory information on their credit. To legitimize their denial of poor credit, the Kealohas submitted a forged police report in loan applications that purported to document Katherine’s false claims of identity theft. The act of forging the police officer’s signature on the report was itself identity theft, for which Katherine pleaded guilty. Katherine further admitted using an alias “Alison Lee Wong” to facilitate the bank fraud. This alias also played a role in Gerard Puana’s claims of fraud. As evidence at trial established, in 2009, Katherine used the “Wong” alias to notarize and create a fraudulent trust in Gerard’s name. And in 2008, under the customer name “Kathryn Aloha,” Katherine ordered a notary seal for “Alison Lee Wong” from the American Association of Notaries and had it mailed to the State of Hawaii’s Office of Environmental Quality Control, where Katherine served as Director. As Judge Seabright stated today, Katherine “perverted justice over and over and over and over again.”

The Kealohas’ co-conspirators, Derek Wayne Hahn and Bobby Nguyen, are scheduled to be sentenced on December 1, 2020 for their involvement in framing Gerard Puana. Katherine Kealoha’s brother, Rudolph B. Puana, is currently facing drug distribution and firearm charges, and is scheduled for trial in April 2021.

DEFENDANTS                               

Katherine P. Kealoha                          Age: 50                       Honolulu, Hawaii

Louis M. Kealoha                               Age: 60                       Honolulu, Hawaii

SUMMARY OF CONVICTIONS

Katherine Kealoha                          

CR No. 17-00582-JMS-WRP

Conspiracy to Commit Offenses Against the United States – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 371

Maximum penalty: Five years in prison, $250,000 fine

Obstruction of Official Proceeding – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1512(c) (three counts)

Maximum penalty: Twenty years in prison, $250,000 fine

CR No. 18-00068-JMS-WRP

Bank Fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344

Maximum Penalty: Thirty years in prison, $1 million fine

Aggravated Identity Theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A

Maximum Penalty: Mandatory term of imprisonment of two years, to be served consecutive to the sentence imposed for any underlying charge; fine of up to $250,000

CR No. 19-00015 JMS-WRP

Misprision of Felony, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 4

Maximum Penalty: Three years in prison; fine of up to $250,000;

Louis Kealoha                                  

CR No. 17-00582-JMS-WRP

Conspiracy to Commit Offenses Against the United States – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 371

Maximum penalty: Five years in prison, $250,000 fine

Obstruction of Official Proceeding – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1512(c) (three counts)

Maximum penalty: Twenty years in prison, $250,000 fine

CR No. 18-00068-JMS-WRP

Bank Fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344

Maximum Penalty: Thirty years in prison, $1 million fine

AGENCY

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Honolulu, Portland, and San Diego Divisions

Topic(s): 

Public Corruption

 

Component(s): 

USAO - California, Southern

 

Press Release Number: 

CAS20-1130-Kealoha

 

Full Article & Source:

Former Prosecutor and Police Chief Sentenced for Framing Their Relative with a Crime to Conceal Their Own Fraud

Judge blocks auction of so-called Hawaiian princess' things

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER

HONOLULU — An auction of a 94-year-old Native Hawaiian heiress' belongings can't go forward until a conservator is named to handle her finances, a judge ruled Monday.

Abigail Kawananakoa's foundation, which has been working to ensure her fortune goes to benefiting Native Hawaiian causes, asked a judge to stop the auction until at least a conservator is named. The auction was scheduled to close next week, while a hearing on her conservator isn't scheduled until July 21. On Monday, the the auction website said it is now scheduled to end on Aug. 2.

Kawananakoa's wife and others can't proceed with the auction or sell any of her belongings until there's a ruling on the foundation's petition and a permanent conservator is named, Judge R. Mark Browning ruled.

Her $215-million fortune has been tied up in a legal battle since 2017, when her longtime lawyer, Jim Wright, argued a stroke left her impaired. Kawananakoa said she's fine and fired Wright. She then married her partner of 20 years, Veronica Gail Worth, who later took her last name.

A judge ruled in March that she needs a conservator because she's unable to manage her property and business affairs. Another judge ruled month last month her conservatorship should be unlimited and set a hearing for July 21 to determine who that will be.

Some consider Kawananakoa a princess because she's related to the family that ruled the islands before the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893.

She inherited her wealth as the great-granddaughter of James Campbell, an Irish businessman who made his fortune as a sugar plantation owner and one of Hawaii's largest landowners.

"Ms. Abigail and her spouse, Veronica, have no issue with postponing the sale of Ms. Kawananakoa's personal effects located in her North Shore cottage," Michael Rudy, an attorney representing Kawananakoa's wife, said in a statement on behalf of the couple.

"The Kawānanakoa Foundation is grateful that the auction has been stopped for now," the foundation said in a statement. "We look forward to the appointment of a Conservator who can best determine what should happen to Ms. Kawānanakoa's property, consistent with what is in her best interests."

Foundation directors said in their petition they are concerned that some of the auction items appear culturally significant.

Kawananakoa "will carefully re-examine the sale items to ensure that no significant cultural or historical items are publicly sold" and plans to donate those items to Iolani Palace, Rudy said.

"Ms. Abigail and Veronica respect this ruling and all other prior rulings in this case," Rudy said. "They desperately wish, however, that the Court continues to protect and conserve all of Ms. Kawananakoa's other assets and financial resources that continue to be squandered by unnecessary and unreasonable attorneys' fees, trustee's fees and other costs (now totaling in the millions of dollars), that Ms. Kawananakoa is being involuntarily forced to incur and will continue to be incurred until such time as the Court puts a stop to it."

Full Article & Source:
Judge blocks auction of so-called Hawaiian princess' things

See Also:
Foundation fights auction by so-called Hawaiian princess

Judge mulls conservator for so-called Hawaiian princess

Foundation fights auction by so-called Hawaiian princess

FILE - In this Oct. 25, 2019 file photo, Native Hawaiian heiress Abigail Kawananakoa poses outside a Honolulu courthouse. A foundation working to ensure that Kawananakoa’s fortune goes toward benefiting Native Hawaiian causes now wants to stop an auction of items belonging to the heiress some consider a princess. Attorneys for the foundation are asking a judge to stop the auction before a conservator to handle Kawananakoa’s finances is named.(AP Photo/Jennifer Sinco Kelleher,File)

By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher

HONOLULU — A foundation working to ensure a 94-year-old woman’s fortune goes to benefiting Native Hawaiian causes now wants to stop an auction of items belonging to the heiress some consider a princess.

Attorneys for the foundation are asking a judge to stop the auction until a conservator to handle Abigail Kawananakoa’s finances is named.

Her $215-million fortune has been tied up in a legal battle since 2017, when her longtime lawyer, Jim Wright, argued a stroke left her impaired. Kawananakoa said she’s fine and fired Wright. She then married her partner of 20 years, Veronica Gail Worth, who later took her last name.

A judge ruled in March that she needs a conservator because she’s unable to manage her property and business affairs. Another judge ruled month last month her conservatorship should be unlimited and set a hearing for July 21 to determine who that will be.

Some consider Kawananakoa a princess because she’s related to the family that ruled the islands before the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893.

She inherited her wealth as the great-granddaughter of James Campbell, an Irish businessman who made his fortune as a sugar plantation owner and one of Hawaii’s largest landowners.

In a petition filed in court last week, her foundation directors said it’s troubling some of the auction items appear culturally significant, including what looks like a kukui nut lamp used by Hawaiians before European contact that had a bid of $336 as of Tuesday. On Wednesday, the item was no longer listed and there was a message that read, “Several items were recently removed from the auction at the request of the Kawananakoa family.”

The foundation directors allege her wife is behind the auction, saying she has the “chutzpah to auction off Ms. Kawānanakoa’s ‘unique’ and culturally priceless belongings to any random stranger with a credit card.”

A lawyer for Kawananakoa’s wife didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

“These items are personal property from Ms. Kawananakoa’s Punaluu cottage, which she no longer visits,” her attorney, Bruce Voss, said in a statement. “All net proceeds from the sale will go into an account to help pay Ms. Kawananakoa’s personal expenses.”

Voss said Kawananakoa needs money to pay her expenses because Wright, her former lawyer and trustee, paid more than $3 million to his attorneys and $400,000 to the foundation’s attorneys.

“Miss Kawananakoa continues to be well funded and the money from the sale is small especially compared to the harm it will cause,” Wright said. “This sale is a cruel repudiation of her life’s work of recovering and protecting Hawaiian artifacts. It is not the first time a Hawaiian leader has been diminished. It needs to be the last.”

The auction is scheduled to close July 12.

“It is extremely troubling to find that an auction has been scheduled to sell items of her personal property prior to the appointment of her Conservator – this is what Hawaiians call hewa (‘wrong’),” Lilikalā Kame’eleihiwa, one of the foundation’s directors and a professor at the University of Hawaii’s Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, said in a declaration to the petition. “Many of these items are on sale for a mere $10 each. Therefore, the pending auction should be stopped before these objects are lost forever to Ms.Kawānanakoa during her incapacity.”

Full Article & Source:
Foundation fights auction by so-called Hawaiian princess

See Also:
Judge mulls conservator for so-called Hawaiian princess

Judge mulls conservator for so-called Hawaiian princess

By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher

HONOLULU — A long, bitter legal battle over control of a 94-year-old Native Hawaiian heiress' $215-million fortune raged on Tuesday, with a judge saying her conservatorship should be unlimited but not ruling on who the conservator will be.

It's not clear when Judge R. Mark Browning will rule on who will serve as conservator for Abigail Kawananakoa, considered a princess by some because she's related to the family that ruled the islands before the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893.

Browning "finds that an unlimited conservatorship is appropriate," he said in a written order after hearing arguments Tuesday. His order also directs a court-appointed helper, known as a Kokua Kanawai, to do a "brief investigation into the four proposed conservators," including Kawananakoa's wife.

The Kokua Kanawai must interview the nominated conservators and file a report by the end of the month. Browning set a July 21 hearing.

Kawananakoa inherited her wealth as the great-granddaughter of James Campbell, an Irish businessman who made his fortune as a sugar plantation owner and one of Hawaii's largest landowners.

The legal wrangling dates to 2017, when her longtime lawyer, Jim Wright, argued a stroke left her impaired. Kawananakoa said she's fine and fired Wright. She then married her partner of 20 years, Veronica Gail Worth, who later took her last name.

Native Hawaiians have been closely watching what happens because they are concerned about the fate of a foundation she set up to benefit Hawaiian causes.

"It is our kuleana to ensure Abigail Kawānanakoa's resources — which she intended for the Hawaiian community — aren't hijacked for personal or corporate gain," Oz Stender, interim director of her foundation, said in a statement, using the Hawaiian word for responsibility.

Another judge ruled in March that Kawananakoa needs a conservator because she's unable to manage her property and business affairs. She testified that she doesn't need anyone to handle her estate because she isn't dead yet.

Kawananakoa, who turned 94 in April, listened to Tuesday's hearing by telephone. She didn't speak during the proceeding. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the judge allowed only a few attorneys to be in the courtroom to avoid a crowded space. Other attorneys, including those representing her foundation, participated by telephone.

She wants a limited conservatorship, said her attorney, Bruce Voss. He said she wants the conservator to be either be her wife, or Stacey Wong, who was trustee of the Eric A. Knudsen Trust, one of Hawaii's largest family estates.

"Fundamentally ... what Ms. Kawananakoa wants is to maintain some control, at least some control, over the things that are most important to her and her life: her people, her care and her horses."

She can make decisions, he said. "She doesn't want anyone ... to take complete control of her life," he said. "She's a proud, smart woman."

She needs is an independent conservator with full control over her finances who can work with a trustee who replaces Wright, said Wright's attorney, Edmund Saffery.

"The issue before the court is simple, should Ms. Kawananakoa be allowed to continue to run her financial affairs over a cliff or should the slate finally be wiped clean with the appointment of a neutral third party conservator beholden to seeing that Ms. Kawananakoa's finances are managed to her best interests," Saffery said.

Full Article & Source:
Judge mulls conservator for so-called Hawaiian princess

Judge: Hawaiian ‘princess’ needs help managing $215M estate

HONOLULU (AP) — A 93-year-old Native Hawaiian heiress needs someone to handle her estate despite taking testimony from the so-called princess on Monday that she didn’t need a conservator because she’s still alive, a judge ruled Friday. 

“Ms. Kawananakoa is a charming and gracious lady, in the best sense of the word. She has a great sense of humor and is tremendously endearing,” said state Judge James Ashford. “Nevertheless, the Court finds ... that for reasons other than age Ms. Kawananakoa is unable to manage her property and business affairs effectively because of an impairment.”

Abigail Kawananakoa’s $215 million trust has been tied up in a court case since she had a stroke in 2017. 

Kawananakoa says she’s fine. After the stroke, she married her partner of 20 years, Veronica Gail Worth, who later took the heiress’ last name. Board members of her foundation and ex-employees say the wife is manipulating Kawananakoa. Lawyers for the couple dispute that.

Kawananakoa inherited her wealth as the great-granddaughter of James Campbell, an Irish businessman who made his fortune as a sugar plantation owner and one of Hawaii’s largest landowners.

Native Hawaiians consider her a princess because she’s a descendant of the family that ruled the islands before the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893. They have been closely watching the case because they are concerned about the fate of a foundation she set up to benefit Hawaiian causes.

When Megan Kau, an attorney representing Kawananakoa’s former housekeeper, asked if Kawananakoa understood who her trustee is, she said, “Well, I’m not dead yet, so what do you mean trustee? Who needs to handle my estate if I’m still alive?”

On the witness stand, Kawananakoa said she disputed that she suffered a stroke.

Full Article & Source:
Judge: Hawaiian ‘princess’ needs help managing $215M estate

Attorney indicted for alleged forged deed, real estate theft

HILO — Hilo attorney Paul J. Sulla Jr. was indicted Wednesday by a grand jury on first-degree theft and second-degree forgery charges in connection with a narrow piece of land containing an easement road in lower Puna.

The two-count indictment states on or about Sept. 6, 2016, Sulla “with intent to defraud, falsely made, completed, endorsed or altered … a deed … .” It also states Sulla and Halai Heights LLC “as part of one scheme and/or a continuing course of conduct, intentionally obtained or exerted control over … a parcel of real estate … belonging to Leonard G. Horowitz and/or the Royal Bloodline of David, by deception,” with intent to deprive them of the property.

Halai Heights LLC is listed on the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs website as a “real estate property management” company, with Sulla listed as manager. Sulla has disclosed in open court that the other member of Halai Heights is Jason Hester.

A bench warrant was issued for Sulla’s arrest. He will be released on his own recognizance without monetary bail required, according to Deputy Prosecutor Rick Damerville. Damerville said a penal summons will be issued for Halai Heights since a limited liability company isn’t subject to arrest.

According to the county Real Property Tax Office website, the 0.83-acre parcel of land referred to as “Remnant ‘A’” in the indictment is unimproved other than the easement road. It’s zoned agricultural and has both a total market value and an assessed land value of $27,100.

A warranty deed recorded Sept. 6, 2016, the date of the alleged forgery and theft, indicates a sale of the property for $450,000.

Horowitz, 67, a former dentist whose website describes him as a “clinician, prophet, scholar and natural healer” is an author, YouTube speaker and outspoken opponent of vaccinations. He’s been involved in several civil lawsuits against Sulla and/or Hester, as an appellant and a respondent, for more than a decade, and accuses the lawyer of — among other things — impropriety in connection with the non-judicial foreclosure process.

Earlier this year, one civil matter was remanded by the Intermediate Court of Appeals to the 3rd Circuit Court for further consideration.

“The motivation (for Sulla) was to steal a million-dollar property, and it was necessary to have that particular road, Remnant A, in order to access the principal feature of that property,” Horowitz said Thursday. “The main value of the property was to access the coveted steam vent and geothermal warm pools adjacent — which makes that property extraordinarily unique and was the purpose for which we bought it.

“… The adjacent steam bath house and sauna and the adjacent lot … which is our property as well, could not be accessed without Remnant A. So Mr. Sulla did a self-help. He realized he didn’t own it. He realized that the county had deeded it to the Royal Bloodline of David … .”

The civil lawsuits are in connection with two other properties, as well as Remnant A, including the one with the steam baths referred to by Horowitz.

Sulla, 73, denied the allegations in the indictment and said, “It’s ridiculous.”

“This is part of the civil matter Horowitz has cooked up, now,” Sulla added. “We’re not stealing anything. … There’s no criminality in this.”

Damerville declined comment on the civil cases.

“(Sulla is) charged with forgery in the second degree, which involves a deed to a remnant of land, and he’s charged with theft in the first degree regarding that remnant of land, and he’s presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law,” he said.

First-degree theft is a Class B felony that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment upon conviction and second-degree forgery is a Class C felony with a maximum sentence of five years in prison upon conviction.

Full Article & Source:
Attorney indicted for alleged forged deed, real estate theft

The Latest: Judge allows grandma's early testimony

HONOLULU (AP) — The Latest on a hearing about grandma's testimony in corruption case (all times local):

3 p.m.

A judge is allowing a 99-year-old woman to provide early testimony in a corruption case against her granddaughter.

U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright on Friday granted federal prosecutors' request to take Florence Puana's deposition in the event she won't be available for trial. The deposition is scheduled for April 15.

Puana is the grandmother of Katherine Kealoha, an ex-deputy Honolulu prosecutor. Kealoha and her retired police chief husband are accused of defrauding relatives, banks and children to maintain a lavish lifestyle. Prosecutors say Puana is central to establishing a motive. They say Katherine Kealoha stole money from her grandmother and uncle and when they threatened to expose the fraud, Kealoha tried to have her grandmother declared incapacitated and framed her uncle.

 ___


9:30 a.m.

A judge is considering whether to take early testimony from a 99-year-old year woman prosecutors say is a key witness in a Hawaii corruption investigation.

U.S. prosecutors want Florence Puana to be deposed by April 26 because of her health and age. They're concerned she won't be available for trial. A judge scheduled a hearing Friday on the request.

Puana is the grandmother of Katherine Kealoha, an ex-deputy Honolulu prosecutor. Kealoha and her retired police chief husband are accused of defrauding relatives, banks and children to maintain a lavish lifestyle.

Prosecutors say Puana is central to establishing a motive. They say Katherine Kealoha stole money from her grandmother and uncle and when they threatened to expose the fraud, Kealoha tried to have her grandmother declared incapacitated and framed her uncle.

Full Article & Source:
The Latest: Judge allows grandma's early testimony

ACLU Threatens to Sue Nursing Home for Refusing to Help Patients Kill Themselves

A retirement home connected to the Catholic Church is being threatened with legal action for not allowing its patients to commit suicide under Hawaii’s new assisted suicide law.

Though there are social service programs and 24-hour hotlines dedicated to preventing healthy, young people from committing suicide, there is a growing movement in America to push suicide on those who are old or sick. They euphemistically call it “aid in dying,” though people do not have to be dying to qualify for assisted suicide.

Earlier this year, Hawaii became the sixth state to legalize assisted suicide, joining California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia. The law is slated to go into effect in January.

Those who oppose suicide in all its forms are being targeted by powerful liberal groups.
Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the Kahala Nui retirement home in Honolulu demanding that it comply with the new anti-life law, the AP reports.

The elderly care home recently notified patients that they will not be allowed to commit assisted suicide there, according to the report. The Catholic Church, which owns the land where the nonprofit elderly care home is located, opposes assisted suicide, euthanasia, abortion and other life-destroying practices.

The ACLU claims that amounts to discrimination.

Here’s more from the report:

Mateo Caballero, the legal director of the ACLU of Hawaii, said the home was discriminating against those who weren’t Catholic and was telling residents they have to conform to the Catholic Church’s teachings.

“I couldn’t think of a more clear violation of the Fair Housing Act and Hawaii’s own anti-discrimination laws,” he said.

Caballero said he’s not aware of another case in which a retirement home prevented its residents from using a medically assisted suicide law.

Caballero said he wants the home to send another note to residents rescinding its May 11 memo and inform residents it was wrong. Caballero said he hopes the ACLU can work with the home on the issue. If not, he said the ACLU would weigh its options, including a potential lawsuit.

A spokesperson for the home said they do not discriminate against patients based on religion, race, sex, color or anything else. Executive Director Wendy Wong said they have asked their legal counsel to look into the ACLU’s demands.

The Hawaii law allows adults with a terminal diagnosis of six months or fewer to ask a doctor for prescription drugs to kill themselves. But the law — and the six others like it in the U.S. — is riddled with loopholes that fail to protect elderly and disabled people from abuse.

Not Dead Yet, a disability rights group that opposes assisted suicide, has documented on-going abuses of assisted suicide laws in Oregon and Washington, the first two states to legalize the deadly procedure. The group said both states prescribe the lethal drugs to people who are not terminally ill nearly every year.

There also are confirmed stories of patients being denied medical treatment coverage and offered assisted suicide drugs instead.

Stephanie Packer, a mother of four struggling with terminal scleroderma, is one of them. The California woman said her state Medicare plan initially refused to pay for her medical treatment but offered to pay for assisted suicide drugs instead. She has lived five years longer than doctors predicted, the National Catholic Register reported in June.

In separate incidents, Oregon cancer patients Barbara Wagner and Randy Stroup also were denied medical treatment by their state health insurance plans and offered doctor-prescribed suicide instead.

Family members also have witnessed their loved ones being pressured to consider suicide instead of medical treatment. Oregon resident Kathryn Judson said doctors tried to pitch assisted suicide to her sick husband while she was out of the room one day. Judson said they switched doctors, and her husband lived for five more years.

Full Article & Source:
ACLU Threatens to Sue Nursing Home for Refusing to Help Patients Kill Themselves

Judge rules Hawaiian princess unfit to manage $215m trust

A Honolulu judge ruled this week that “Hawaii’s last princess” doesn’t have sufficient mental capacity to manage her $215m trust – the latest twist in a contentious legal battle surrounding 92-year-old Abigail Kawānanakoa and her fortune, and which has raised allegations of possible abuse.

Kawānanakoa is regarded by many Native Hawaiians as a princess because she is a descendent of the royal family that ruled the islands before the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893. She’s also the great-granddaughter of sugar plantation owner James Campbell, a businessman who was one of Hawaii’s largest landowners and through whom Kawānanakoa has inherited her sizable estate, which includes ample real estate and cash assets.

Kawānanakoa has led a mostly private and luxurious life, donating to her favorite charities, and breeding American Quarter Horses, but also had a reputation for quietly paying people’s bills. For years, she paid the electricity bill at Honolulu’s Iolani Palace (the royal residence that’s since become a museum) and would chip in when people came to her with financial problems. In 2001, the heiress also established a $100m trust aimed at supporting Native Hawaiian language, culture, art, education health and housing.

“At the moment, she is a benefactor for the Hawaiian people,” said Lilikalā Kame’eleihiwa, director and professor at the University of Hawaii’s Center for Hawaiian Studies and a board member for Kawānanakoa’s trust. “I understand she paid some people’s student tuition or their medical bills – she even paid people’s mortgages to keep them from becoming homeless.”

But trouble began last year when Kawānanakoa had a stroke. Soon after, her longtime former attorney Jim Wright said she was no longer able to serve as trustee and stepped in. But then Kawānanakoa declared she was fine and took a series of hasty steps that seemed out of character. She fired Wright, married her girlfriend of two decades, Veronica Gail Worth, and hired another lawyer. Before a court hearing on Monday, her lawyer said she wanted to remove Wright and appoint new trustees, including her wife, Worth.

In a nod to Kawānanakoa’s wishes, the judge Monday removed Wright as trustee, but appointed First Hawaiian Bank in his place. He said that he believed Kawānanakoa was able to decide that she wanted a trustee replaced, but that it was more complicated to appoint someone new, and that he didn’t find her capable of managing her financial assets, according to Kawānanakoa’s attorney, Michael Lilly.

“I think it’s a great decision by the judge,” said Kame’eleihiwa. Kame’eleihiwa said that the bank now has the choice in keeping the existing board members, some of whom are prominent Native Hawaiians, or appointing new ones. But Kame’eleihiwa added that she still had concern for Kawānanakoa, who had seemed increasingly isolated after her stroke.

In court filings, Wright, the former attorney, alleged that Worth physically abused Kawānanakoa. Domestic workers who helped Kawānakoa supported the claims, alleging that they had seen abuse occur and witnessed Worth pressuring Kawānanakoa to add her name on her bank account, among other things. After the employees spoke with a court-appointed psychiatrist and judge appointee as part of the legal proceedings, they claimed that they’d been fired and told to leave the southwest Oahu home that Kawānanakoa owned and had let them live in. It was retaliation, they told Hawaii News Now.

Worth has denied the allegations of abuse, and blamed the princess’s bruises on accidental stumbles into furniture. But some board and community members are still concerned, said Kame’eleihiwa.
“The first thing we were worried about was the health of Abigail,” she said. “You should not have elders in a situation where they might be abused.”

Kawānanakoa’s attorney, Michael Lilly, told the Guardian that his client was considering whether to challenge Monday’s ruling, but happy that her former lawyer had been replaced.

“We’re pleased that Mr Wright is out (as trustee),” Lilly told the Guardian. “Abigail Kawānanakoa has a loving marriage and she has been in the news against her wishes. She needs and is entitled to be left alone.”

Full Article & Source:
Judge rules Hawaiian princess unfit to manage $215m trust