Former Honolulu police officer Roddy Tsunezumi testified in U.S. District Court on Wednesday that he and officer Landon K. Rudolfo negotiated the sale of a stolen SUV while they were on the job at the Honolulu Police Department’s main headquarters.
Both men were assigned to HPD’s Traffic Division at the time.
He also said he and Rudolfo arranged the phony theft of another vehicle as part of an insurance fraud scheme.
Rudolfo is on trial for allegedly trafficking stolen vehicles, for allegedly knowingly purchasing a stolen SUV and for allegedly arranging the theft of his friends’ vehicle.
Tsunezumi is testifying as a government witness against Rudolfo. He pleaded guilty to, and is serving a 33-month prison sentence for, extortion in an unrelated case.
Tsunezumi says he sold Rudolfo the stolen SUV and that Rudolfo handed him the keys to the other vehicle. He testified that Rudolfo told him the owners of the second vehicle wanted to get rid of the car so that they could make a false insurance claim.
The prosecution said the owners of the second vehicle are husband-and-wife state sheriff deputies. The state Department of Public Safety confirms the husband and wife are employees and that the department is monitoring the situation. Neither has been charged with a crime.
Tsunezumi said it cost him $3,200 to obtain and alter a stolen Toyota 4Runner Sports Edition with a hood scoop, which Rudolfo had requested, but sold it to Rudolfo for the $3,000 that he had originally quoted.
“He’s my friend. I wanted to keep my word,” Tsunezumi said.
He said that after an accomplice replaced the vehicle identification number plate on the stolen 4Runner, he picked up Rudolfo in his blue-and-white HPD vehicle at Rudolfo’s Salt Lake home and took him to where Rudolfo could take possession of the SUV.
Some time after the sale of the 4Runner, Tsunezumi said, Rudolfo asked him if he was interested in a 2008 Nissan Rogue.
“He told me that one of his friends was interested in ‘insurancing’ a vehicle,” he said.
Tsunezumi said that after he took the keys from Rudolfo at HPD headquarters, he picked up an accomplice, Jeremy Javillo, in his HPD vehicle and took Javillo to where the Rogue was parked. He said Javillo drove off in the Rogue and dropped it off at a farm in Waialua.
Tsunezumi said he intended to sell the Rogue but was not able to because it had been towed from where Javillo had parked it.
Javillo was Tsunezumi’s co-defendant in the extortion scheme. He pleaded guilty in 2014 and is also serving a 33-month prison sentence.
