An alleged co-conspirator of reputed Hawaii crime boss Michael Miske pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping Monday after he allegedly set up the kidnapping and assault of an accountant who owed his friend’s father $900,000.
Preston M. Kimoto, 44, is being held at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu. He entered into a plea agreement Monday with the U.S. Department of Justice.
As part of that agreement, Kimoto entered a guilty plea Monday before Chief U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson to a charge of conspiracy to commit kidnapping using a facility of interstate commerce. He will be sentenced by Watson at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 15.
Kimoto’s attorney,
Cynthia A. Kagiwada, and the U.S. attorney’s office declined comment.
As part of the plea agreement, Kimoto will “fully cooperate” with the U.S. Department of Justice and “agrees to be available to speak with law enforcement officials and representatives of the United States Attorney’s Office at any time and to give truthful and complete answers at such meetings” at which he may have his attorney present.
Miske’s attorney, Michael Kennedy, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that his client “looks forward to his day in court when he will expose that he had absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Kimoto’s, Mr. Miller’s, and Mr. Ortiz’s kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap Victim 3 to extort the $900,000 debt owed” to Kimoto’s friend’s father.
“Mr. Kimoto’s drug charges (count 16), his charge of being a member of a RICO criminal enterprise (count 1), and his criminal complaint for witness tampering of individual A where he personally threatened individual A are to be dismissed,” said Kennedy. “Why? Now he points a finger (a cooperation agreement) at Mr. Miske, who had nothing to do with Mr. Kimoto’s crimes. The trial jury will be instructed to consider the testimony of Mr. Kimoto with greater caution than ordinary witnesses — for good reason.”
In May 2017 a female
acquaintance of Kimoto’s, identified in federal court documents as “Individual-A,” told Kimoto that the accountant, identified as “Victim-3,” owed her father about $900,000, according to the memorandum of plea agreement filed Monday.
The woman told Kimoto they had been unable to collect the debt from the accountant and asked whether Kimoto knew anyone who could get the money for her dad. Kimoto told her he had a friend who could help.
In May, Kimoto told federal prosecutors that he spoke with Miske about the outstanding debt owed by the accountant. Kimoto allegedly asked Miske if he could “talk to the guy,” and Miske allegedly responded with “yes.”
Over the next several weeks, Kimoto and his friend exchanged information, in person and via text message, to confirm the accountant’s identity, phone number, residence and business addresses, the type of car he drove and a Ward Avenue restaurant he frequented,
according to federal court documents.
The woman gave Kimoto a Post-it note with the accountant’s information and the amount owed to her father. Kimoto allegedly left this note on Miske’s desk at
Kamaaina Termite &Pest Control and later confirmed that Miske received it.
Kimoto admitted that he followed the accountant into the Ward Avenue restaurant, where he took a picture of the man on his phone. Kimoto shared the photo with his friend to confirm the man’s identity and later showed the picture to Miske.
Miske allegedly offered the “collection” to Wayne K. Miller, who accepted, according to federal court
documents.
Miske allegedly gave the accountant’s identifying information to Miller, who began following the man and watching him at his office to establish daily patterns of activity, according to federal court documents.
In October 2017, Miller called the man’s accounting business “under the ruse of requesting an appointment to seek tax advice. The true intent of the meeting was to kidnap Victim-3 and unlawfully attempt to obtain money from him,” according to the plea agreement.
On Oct. 17, 2017, Miller and Jonah Ortiz, who had agreed to help Miller with the kidnapping, called the accountant using a “burner” cellphone and asked for a meeting. The accountant agreed to meet at Fisherman’s Wharf at Kewalo
Basin.
Once the man arrived in his car, “Miller and Ortiz flashed fake police badges and assaulted Victim-3 with physical force, zip tied his hands and forced Victim-3, against his will, into the back seat of Miller’s vehicle where a bag was placed over his head,” according to the plea agreement.
Miller was armed with a handgun, and over the next several hours, Miller and
Ortiz drove the accountant around Honolulu demanding money, according to court documents. The man “repeatedly told the pair he did not have any money” and asked to be released.
The request allegedly led to Miller and Ortiz “beating Victim-3 multiple times causing significant injuries which later required treatment at a local hospital.”
That same day, Miske, Miller and Kimoto met in Miske’s office at Kamaaina Termite &Pest Control where Miller explained that the accountant insisted he had no money and the three discussed what they should do next.
Using his mobile phone, Kimoto called his friend, who agreed to meet him that evening. Kimoto explained the situation to the woman, who said she needed to call her father and speak to him.
After talking to her dad, the woman and Kimoto “ultimately agreed to let Victim-3 go free. Miller then released Victim-3.” A few days after the accountant was let go, Kimoto, Miske and Miller met behind Fisherman’s Wharf in the Kakaako area.
Kimoto “admitted that, as he and Miske drove away from the meeting together, Miske told Kimoto to ask his friend to pay 10% of the total amount owed.”
Sometime later Kimoto met with his friend and asked if she “would pay 10% for the efforts that were made to collect the debt.”
Over the next six months, the woman made cash
payments to Kimoto totaling $90,000 for the attempted collection. Kimoto “admitted delivering all the money given to him by Individual-A to Miske at his KTPC
office,” according to court document.
