The former athletic director accused of stealing more than $360,000 from the Mililani High School athletic booster club that he and his immediate family managed pleaded no contest to all charges Tuesday morning.
Glenn S. Nitta, 76, was set to start trial May 15, but his attorney asked for a continuance in the case.
Nitta was scheduled for a calendar call Tuesday morning when he and his attorney Scott K. Collins walked into Circuit Court and indicated he was willing to pay restitution, and changed his not-guilty pleas to no contest to three counts of first-degree theft, three counts of second-degree theft and two counts of failure to report income.
“Mr. Nitta stole from children. He betrayed the trust the community placed in him. His sentence should reflect the seriousness of the crime and serve as a deterrent for others contemplating such egregious behavior. Therefore, we will ask he be sentenced to prison,” Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a statement.
Collins told the Star-Advertiser that no restitution payment was submitted Tuesday as the Deputy Prosecutor and Judge Remigio were unsure who the payee should be on the check. Nitta and his supporters raised more than $400,000 to make the booster club whole.
“My client’s family, friends and community members rallied and came together. As a result of a multitude of community support, numerous and countless people offered to help and contribute in their own way. We were so genuinely touched and moved as their contributions eventually totaled the required restitution amount of $406,000,” said Collins. “We’ve also received a multitude of character letters in support which touched our hearts and brought my client to tears.”
Nitta taught at Mililani for 48 years and was a member of the school’s original staff when the campus opened in 1973, according to state records. He also coached the junior varsity and varsity baseball teams and retired March 31, 2021.
He will be sentenced Oct. 17 at 10 a.m. before Judge Catherine H. Remigio.
Nitta had pleaded not guilty to all those charges March 13 and faces five years in prison and a $10,000 fine on each of the second-degree theft charges, 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for each of first-degree theft charges, and 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine for each charge of failure to report income.
Nitta “went over police reports with his attorney and discussed any possible defenses,” according to a transcript of Tuesday’s proceedings.
He waived his right to a bench trial or jury trial, according to state court records. Nitta “is satisfied with his attorney’s advice,” and he “believes this plea is the best resolution to this case and is aware that he cannot change his mind once a sentence is entered.”
He allegedly used the nonprofit’s money to pay $364,709 for personal expenses, including gambling binges in Las Vegas; business, car and student loans; and credit cards. The school has not recovered any of the money that it raised through concession sales at games and other fundraisers.
Nitta’s trial was scheduled to start in Remigio’s court July 3.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Brandon K. Golden previously noted the state had planned to call six to 12 witnesses at trial. Collins had indicated he planned to call two to five witnesses, according to the filing.
Prosecutors on March 29 filed notice of their intent to introduce financial records associated with the alleged theft of at least $364,709 from the shuttered nonprofit Mililani High School Athletic Booster Club.
Records from the Hawaii State Federal Credit Union, First Hawaiian Bank’s Custodian of Record, Barclays Bank Delaware and Bank of Hawaii, and records and testimony from The Orleans Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and its chief financial officer, will be introduced at trial, according to documents.
The records from Barclay’s consist of “available applications, statements and payments” that were gathered during the execution of a search warrant on July 18, 2021. Casino records for “player accounts, activities and transactions” and “player account information, credit information, credit extended, and payments received” from The Orleans Hotel and Casino were taken after a search warrant was executed June 14, 2022.
At the time the alleged theft was uncovered, the school’s principal, Frederick A.S.W. Murphy, told Honolulu police in a written statement that school officials reviewed 65 bank statements and 1,235 cleared checks from the booster club between Sept. 1, 2015, and Jan. 1, 2021.
Bank of Hawaii turned over “copies of offsets for specific canceled checks” under the booster club on Dec. 21. The Hawaii State Federal Credit Union gave Honolulu police records related to two loans.
Nitta served as president of the school’s now-dissolved nonprofit, according to state records and Murphy’s statement to police. The nonprofit was incorporated Aug. 23, 2001.
The club’s listed officers were Nitta’s wife, Gaile Nitta, secretary; brother-in-law Phillip Carlos, director; sister-in-law Helen Carlos, treasurer; daughter Glenelle Nitta, a physical education teacher and softball coach at Mililani High School, director; and son Galenn Nitta, director.
According to the March 23, 2021, written statement to Honolulu police, Nitta cut $188,750 in checks to himself “and family members with the last name ‘Nitta’” between 2015 and 2021.
In 2015 a total of $11,500 in checks was issued from the nonprofit’s account to Nitta and/or family members that the school could not immediately link to official athletic department activities, according to the school’s statement.
That number increased to $35,550 in 2016, $36,900 in 2017 and $38,500 in 2018. The annual total associated with checks to the Nitta family from the nonprofit’s account fell to $38,300 in 2019, $27,300 in 2020 and $700 in 2021, the year Nitta retired.
The checks in 2020 and 2021 “were written during a pandemic,” and “all sporting operations” were closed from March 2020 to March 2021, according to the statement to police.
Four personal credit card accounts were also reimbursed by Nitta with the nonprofit’s money, according to the school’s investigation, in the amount of $131,593.45 between 2015 and 2021.
The payments to the four credit card companies started with $9,200 in 2015 before ballooning to $30,965.65 in 2016. In 2017 the nonprofit reimbursed the four accounts $28,746.80; in 2018, $18,141.07; in 2019, $20,854.69; in 2020, $23,335.29; and in 2021 the payments fell to $349.95.
The investigation by school officials also uncovered $23,622 in cash withdrawals, including $11,630 in 2020 when all athletic activities were shut down.
Also, between 2015 and 2021 the nonprofit allegedly made $13,433.19 in loan payments to UBS Financial to cover a business loan that allegedly funded a family operation. School officials also highlighted 15 transactions between 2015 and 2021 charged to the booster club that totaled $7,310.36.
Those charges included $3,516 at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas. Three transactions were each for $1,004 and occurred on Nov. 11, 2017; Dec. 26, 2017; and Nov. 11, 2019. On that November day in 2019, Nitta also allegedly charged $504.50 to the nonprofit’s card at the Tropicana.
On Jan. 26, 2016, Nitta allegedly paid a $452.76 mobile phone bill with the nonprofit’s card. On Feb. 8, 2016, a $600 student loan payment was charged to the booster club’s account. Payments to service a GM Financial car loan, golf at the Hoakalei Country Club, a debt consolidation loan, seat covers, a cable bill and a Chinese dinner on New Year’s Eve 2020 were also detailed in the school’s report to police.
An anonymous tip to the state Department of Education alleged impropriety with the nonprofit’s work with a shirt company owned by Nitta’s son, Galenn, according to police records.
