The attorney for the founder of a Honolulu engineering company accused of conspiring with the former city prosecuting attorney to frame an ex-employee for theft in exchange for campaign donations was arrested by federal agents in California on Tuesday.
Sheri Jean Tanaka, who represents Mitsunaga & Associates, or MAI, was named in a first superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday in federal court. Tanaka was “arrested in the Central District of California and is currently in custody,” according to a motion to unseal the document, filed by federal prosecutors.
Tanaka was licensed in California and Hawaii and was MAI’s “legal representative in administrative, civil, and criminal” matters, according to the latest indictment.
On Oct. 4, 2012, Tanaka and Dennis Mitsunaga met with former Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro and Kaneshiro’s executive assistant to “try and persuade Kaneshiro to investigate and prosecute” Mitsunaga’s former employee.
She allegedly gave a letter outlining potential criminal charges to Kaneshiro’s office on Jan. 22, 2013, two days before she joined Mitsunaga and Kaneshiro for lunch to discuss the investigation, according to federal prosecutors.
Four days later Tanaka sent an email to Kaneshiro’s assistant, expressing her pleasure that she and Kaneshiro lunched with her and Mitsunaga despite their “hectic schedules.”
“I completely agree … it is amazing how Mr. Kaneshiro and Mr. Mitsunaga are so much alike. They are both incredible individuals with so many accomplishments and are such an inspiration to those around them,” according to a portion of Tanaka’s email cited in the indictment.
On June 2, Mitsunaga, 78, was indicted by a federal grand jury with Kaneshiro, 72 and three others on charges of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, federal program bribery and conspiracy to violate the rights of the former MAI employee.
The first superseding indictment, secured Thursday, was unsealed Tuesday, allowing federal agents to take Tanaka into custody. Mitsunaga is president and CEO of MAI and a longtime contributor to Hawaii political campaigns.
Also charged in the original and superseding indictment are Terri Ann Otani, 66, MAI corporate secretary and office manager; Aaron Shunichi Fujii, 64, MAI’s executive vice president and chief operating officer; and Chad Michael McDonald, 50, MAI senior vice president.
Kaneshiro, Mitsunaga, Otani, Fujii and McDonald have pleaded not guilty and are free on $50,000 bond pending trial. All five entered not-guilty pleas to the first superseding indictment, according to federal court documents. Their pretrial release was continued.
The case is being handled by a special prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Wheat, and a team of federal prosecutors from San Diego. Wheat did not immediately respond to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser request for comment.
Their trial is scheduled for 9 a.m. March 21 before Chief U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright.
The allegations outlined in the June 2 indictment stem from MAI’s handling of former employee Laurel Mau, who sued the company after she was let go in November 2011 because they thought she was working side jobs. Mitsunaga and his employees allegedly tried to block Mau’s applications for unemployment benefits. After a year a Circuit Court judge ruled Mau was eligible to receive the benefits.
In an August 2012 lawsuit, Mau accused MAI of violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.
Following the Oct. 4, 2012, meeting, Mitsunaga, Otani, Fujii and McDonald, Tanaka and other Mitsunaga family members and employees donated about $45,000 to Kaneshiro’s campaign, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
In July 2014 a federal judge overseeing Mau’s lawsuit and several counterclaims by MAI found no liability other than a “breach of loyalty” claim against Mau for which she awarded the firm $1.
Kaneshiro prosecuted Mau for four counts of theft at the firm’s request in December 2014, according to state court records. When one deputy prosecutor told Kaneshiro that there was not enough evidence to prosecute Mau, Kaneshiro allegedly reassigned the case to another prosecutor, who charged Mau, according to the federal court documents.
In July 2017 the charges against Mau were dismissed with prejudice, meaning they could not be refiled. Kaneshiro served as city prosecutor from 1988 to 1996 and again from 2010 to 2018 before he went on paid leave.
