The admitted car thief who took possession of a vehicle Honolulu police officer Landon Rudolfo is accused of arranging to have “stolen” told a federal jury Friday that he later used it in a robbery.
Rudolfo is on trial in U.S. District Court for conspiring to traffic a stolen vehicle by arranging the theft of a 2008 Nissan Rogue so the owners, his friends, could make a fraudulent insurance claim. Rudolfo is also charged with knowingly purchasing a stolen sport utility vehicle from another police officer, then selling it.
Jeremy Javillo, 30, said he got the keys to the Nissan from the other police officer. The now-former officer, Roddy Takao Tsunezumi, 39, testified earlier that he got the keys from Rudolfo, who told him the owners wanted the vehicle stolen so they could make a theft claim with their insurer.
Tsunezumi and Javillo are each serving 33-month federal prison sentences for an unrelated extortion scheme.
Javillo said he used the Nissan in a robbery of a drug dealer in Chinatown. He said he confronted a drug-dealing couple about money owed to a bookie. When the husband left to presumably get the money, Javillo said he snatched the wife’s purse and fled.
He said the purse contained $5,000 cash and $2,500 worth of drugs. He said he kept the cash and gave the drugs to the person who directed him to the drug dealers.
Javillo has not been charged with any crimes in connection with the purse-snatching. In addition to the extortion, he has state convictions for motor vehicle theft, illegal firearm possession, drug promotion and domestic abuse.
Insurance fraud investigator Russell Henna testified that State Farm paid $15,348 to Pearl Harbor Federal Credit Union to settle the Nissan owners’ theft claim. He said the owners’ gap insurance paid the additional $2,389 the owners still owed on the car loan.
Henna said there were multiple fraud indicators connected to the claim. First, the owners owed more money on the car loan than what the vehicle was worth. He said the Nissan also had twice the mileage of comparable vehicles and a transponder to allow Nissan to remotely disable the vehicle in case of a theft.
Finally, he said the facts and circumstances of the theft report were questionable.
The owners reported to police on Dec. 30, 2011, that they last saw their vehicle the day before.
Henna said the owners reported leaving the vehicle across from Pearlridge Center, near Pali Momi Medical Center. He said it is a densely populated area where parking is hard to find and not where the owners live or work.
The owners, husband and wife state sheriff deputies, have not been charged with any crimes.
U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson prevented Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Wallenstein from asking Henna whether State Farm is investigating the owners for insurance fraud.
