The public corruption scandal that began when former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his wife, former city Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha, attempted to frame her uncle in 2013 to conceal mismanagement of family funds has expanded into one of the largest federal investigations of how elected officials and businesses play politics in Hawaii.
The U.S. Department of Justice appointed a special prosecutor, Assistant U.S Attorney Michael Wheat, to lead a team of federal prosecutors based in San Diego to help ensure the ties that bind an island community would not compromise the investigation. What started with a family feud over money has so far resulted in the prosecution and conviction of the Kealohas and indictments of former Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro, city Managing Director Roy Amemiya, Corporation Counsel Donna Leong and Honolulu Police Commission Chair Max Sword.
>> RELATED: Keith Kaneshiro’s refusal to cooperate in the Kealoha probe turned scrutiny on him
Wheat’s probe continues to unearth allegations of elected officials betraying the public trust. On June 2, Kaneshiro and local engineering executive Dennis Mitsunaga, one of the most prolific campaign contributors in Hawaii, were indicted with three other Mitsunaga officials for allegedly framing a former company employee for felony theft in exchange for $45,000 in campaign contributions.
A timeline of the investigation so far:
2013
>> June 22: Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha, wife of Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, tells police the mailbox at their Kahala home was stolen. She later reports that her uncle, Gerard Puana, was captured on home surveillance video stealing the mailbox.
>> July 1: Federal prosecutors charge Puana with destroying a mailbox, a crime punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine.
2014
>> Dec. 4: On the first day of Puana’s trial, Louis Kealoha causes a mistrial by telling jurors about Puana’s 2011 conviction for unlawfully entering a neighbor’s home. Defense attorney Alexander Silvert accuses Kealoha of purposely causing the mistrial to avert a not-guilty verdict that would have undercut Katherine Kealoha’s standing in a civil case against Puana.
>> Dec. 16: At the government’s request, the court dismisses Puana’s criminal case.
>> Dec. 17: Silvert tells the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he turned over information about the mailbox theft case to the FBI for investigation, eventually triggering a federal grand jury inquiry into alleged police misconduct, which leads to an investigation centering on the Kealohas and others.
2016
>> Dec. 16: Retired HPD officer Niall Silva pleads guilty to conspiring with other officers and Katherine Kealoha to frame Puana for the mailbox theft.
>> Dec. 20: Louis Kealoha places himself on voluntary paid leave after the FBI sends him a target letter saying he is the focus of a criminal investigation.
2017
>> Jan. 6: Louis Kealoha agrees to retire, ending a 33-year career at HPD.
>> Jan. 14: The FBI conducts a raid on Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro’s office.
>> Jan. 18: The Honolulu Police Commission announces Kealoha will be paid $250,000 in severance, out of HPD funds, in exchange for retiring Feb. 28.
>> Oct. 19: A grand jury indicts Katherine and Louis Kealoha and four police officers on conspiracy and obstruction charges in connection with the phony mailbox theft.
2018
>> Sept. 17: Katherine Kealoha resigns as deputy prosecutor.
>> December: Reports surface that Kaneshiro received a target letter in the federal investigation. One of his deputies, Chasid Sapolu, receives a subject letter saying investigators suspect he may have committed misconduct.
>> Dec. 13: Sapolu takes a leave of absence from his job as first deputy prosecuting attorney.
>> Dec. 19: Businessman Tracy Yoshimura files an impeachment petition against Kaneshiro in state Circuit Court.
2019
>> Jan. 14: The city announces that its top civil attorney, Corporation Counsel Donna Leong, is on paid leave after receiving a target letter. Mayor Kirk Caldwell says it involves Leong’s role in the agreement allowing Louis Kealoha to retire with benefits, including $250,000 in severance pay.
>> Feb. 12: State Attorney General Clare Connors asks the Hawaii Supreme Court to suspend Kaneshiro and includes a sworn declaration from then-Police Chief Susan Ballard saying she is “uncomfortable with his continued attendance at the monthly public safety meetings” while a target of a federal public corruption probe.
>> Feb. 12: A new indictment accuses Katherine Kealoha of allegedly conspiring with her physician brother, Rudolph B. Puana, and others to distribute oxycodone and fentanyl and cover up the illegal activity after an HPD detective discovered the drug dealing and told her about it.
>> June 27: Louis and Katherine Kealoha are found guilty of conspiracy and obstruction for using their positions as law enforcement officers to stage the mailbox theft and cover up stealing thousands of dollars from her grandmother to fund a lavish lifestyle.
2020
>> Nov. 30: Katherine Kealoha is sentenced to 13 years in prison. In a separate hearing, Louis Kealoha receives a seven-year prison term.
2021
>> Dec. 16: A federal indictment accuses Amemiya, Leong and Sword of conspiring to “embezzle, steal, obtain by fraud and otherwise without authority” money from a city program receiving federal funding and concealing the source of the funds from the Honolulu City Council and the public to structure Kealoha’s $250,000 severance package.
2022
>> Jan. 12: Amemiya, Leong and Sword turn themselves in to FBI agents at the bureau’s Kapolei complex. They plead not guilty to the charges and are awaiting trial.
>> April 20: A federal jury convicts Rudolph Puana of more than three dozen counts of distributing and dispensing oxycodone and fentanyl outside the course of his professional practice.
>> June 2: Kaneshiro, 72; Dennis Mitsunaga, 78; and Mitsunaga & Associates executives Terri Ann Otani, 66; Aaron Shunichi Fujii, 64; and Chad Michael McDonald, 50, are indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, federal program bribery and conspiracy to violate rights after allegedly cutting a deal with Kaneshiro in 2012 to charge a former company employee with four counts of felony theft in exchange for $45,000 in campaign contributions. A state judge later dismisses the theft charges, citing a total lack of probable cause.
