The homes of several Honolulu police officers were raided last week as part of a federal gambling investigation that alleges the officers helped set up and protect illegal cockfights and other gambling games in exchange for things of value, said a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation.
The FBI is leading the probe and no arrests have been made, said the official, who asked not to be identified because the investigation is ongoing.
Honolulu Police Department Capt. Frank Fujii said Chief Boisse Correa knows of an investigation but will not comment now.
The officers allegedly helped to facilitate and protect large cockfighting derbies that regularly occur on O'ahu. Other forms of gambling, like card and dice games, are set up at the derbies.
At least four officers' homes were searched last week, including a member of the department's gambling detail, an officer stationed in Wahiawa and two officers with the District 4 (Windward O'ahu) Crime Reduction Unit.
FBI Special Agent Arnold Laanui acknowledged that the FBI served search warrants last week but declined further comment.
Three officers have been placed on leave by the department because of the investigation, said Lt. Alex Garcia, O'ahu chapter chairman of the State of Hawai'i Organization of Police Officers.
"As with any other union member, SHOPO will be acting to protect everyone's contractual rights and benefits," said Garcia, in a statement posted on his personal Web site yesterday. "If officers are convicted of criminal violations, then they will face a just punishment. Until then, they are all innocent until proven guilty and should be afforded the same rights and respect afforded every other citizen and union member."
The Honolulu Police Commission was informed of the investigation by Correa.
"The only thing that we know is that an investigation is ongoing by the federal authorities but because of the confidential nature of the investigation, the department was unable to disclose any information," said Ron Taketa, chairman of the commission. Case UpdatesA Waialua man admits he paid off the girlfriend of a Honolulu police officer because he feared possible shutdown of his illegal gambling business that included cockfights, card games and craps on family property in Waialua.
"I was running the Waialua cockfights, and I was paying Micha Terragna weekly," Charles Gilman told U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren yesterday.
Gilman, 51, pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to two charges stemming from drug and gambling conspiracies uncovered by a wiretap investigation in the rural North Shore town.
Also indicted last April in connection with the gambling conspiracy were three other relatives, police officers Kevin Brunn, Bryson Apo and Glenn Miram, and Terragna.
Gilman admitted to conspiring with co-defendants Brunn, Apo, Miram and Waialua resident John Saguibo to obstructing the enforcement of state laws that prohibit gambling.
In a plea agreement, Gilman admitted that he operated the illegal business on family land across from Waialua Elementary School along with his father, Douglas Gilman Sr., and his brothers Douglas Gilman Jr. and William Gilman.
He also admitted that Terragna was his "partner" in the Waialua cockfights that netted in excess of $2,000 on any single day.
The cockfights were in operation from at least November 2004 to March 31, 2005, when federal agents searched Gilman's home and the home of Brunn and Terragna.
The wiretaps caught conversations between Saguibo, Gilman and Apo about what happened at the cockfights, including the number of fights and number of draws, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Florence Nakakuni.
There were also calls between Gilman and Saguibo and Saguibo and Terragna regarding payments to her and Brunn, Nakakuni said.
According to the plea agreement, Gilman admitted that he paid Brunn and Terragna about $700 to $1,000 a week during the cockfighting season from November 2004 through March 2005.
Gilman admitted to paying Terragna, who lived with Brunn and has three children from him, because he believed Brunn was responsible for his not being in jail on drug charges and because Brunn threatened to "shut down" the cockfights unless he and Terragna were paid, the plea agreement said.
Gilman has state felony convictions in 1994 and 1995 involving drugs.
In the drug conspiracy, Gilman admitted to conspiring with co-defendants Keele Vesnefski, Ahisa Kaluhiokalani and others to distribute three pounds of crystal methamphetamine, or "ice."
As part of the plea agreement, Gilman has agreed to cooperate with investigators and testify if required against any co-defendants in any criminal or civil proceedings.
Gilman was allowed to remain free on bail until his sentencing July 12 before Chief U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor. He faces a maximum life term for the drug charges and up to five years for the gambling offenses.
Miram and Apo pleaded guilty earlier to their roles in the gambling conspiracy and will be sentenced in April and May, respectively. | Source: Star Bulletin - Feb 22, 2007
Update posted on Feb 27, 2007 - 10:15PM |
A Honolulu police officer accused of plotting to obstruct justice by trying to protect a North Shore cockfighting and gambling operation pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court.
Bryson Apo is the second police officer to plead guilty in the case. Co-defendant Glenn Miram is awaiting sentencing after admitting his guilt in December.
Apo is to be sentenced in May. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Apo, Miram and another officer were accused last April of warning members of the operation of when the Honolulu Police Department's Vice Division intended to raid their cockfights, as well as craps and card games.
The case against the officers stemmed from an internal FBI investigation of one of its employees. The probe led to five federal indictments naming 23 defendants. | Source: KPUA - Feb 10, 2007
Update posted on Feb 10, 2007 - 12:27PM |
One of three Honolulu policemen indicted for allegedly warning operators of a Waialua gambling business of impending police raids has pleaded guilty.
Glenn Miram, a seven-year veteran of the Honolulu Police Department who resigned several weeks ago, entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors yesterday. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to and obstructing law enforcement to help the gambling business, which included cockfighting, craps and card games.
In documents filed in federal court yesterday, Miram said he is guilty of conspiring with fellow officers Kevin Brunn, a 21-year veteran who was last with the Wahiawa police station, and Bryson Apo of the Windward crime reduction unit.
Miram also admitted to co-conspiring with Charles Gilman, owner of the Waialua site, and others.
Attorney William Harrison said his client chose to plead guilty rather than put his family through a trial.
"He obviously is contrite," he said. "He is the first one of the police officers that has taken responsibility, and I think that says a lot for his character."
Miram, who spent the last 2 1/2 years with the NarcoticsVice Division, said that on March 19, 2005, he provided information on the gambling detail's operations to Apo and Waialua resident and cockfight operator John Saguibo, "knowing that they were using this information to evade law enforcement efforts at the Waialua cockfights."
Miram acknowledged he contacted Apo by cell phone, then called John Saguibo and said that police would be at the Waialua cockfights.
Miram told "Apo that the gambling detail would 'bang Waialua tomorrow,' " the court document said.
"He admitted today to making one call ... at the behest of a co-defendant police officer to John Saguibo," Harrison said. "Today he took responsibility for that one phone call and acknowledged he should not have made that one phone call and given John Saguibo that information."
Given the nature of his conduct and coming forward and acknowledging his complicity, "he has an excellent chance of avoiding jail time," Harrison said.
The U.S. Attorney agreed to ask for a one-level sentencing reduction. He faces up to five years' imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and two years' supervised release.
Miram is scheduled to be sentenced April 2 by federal Judge Susan Mollway. | Source: Star Bulletin - Dec 15, 2006
Update posted on Dec 15, 2006 - 6:17PM |
Two Honolulu police officers pleaded not guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to charges in separate indictments that resulted from an FBI investigation targeting illegal gambling and crystal methamphetamine distribution on the North Shore.
Neither officer is charged in connection with illegal gambling or drug activities.
However, John Edwin Cambra IV is accused in an April 6 indictment, along with his father, John Edwin Cambra III, with concealing cockfighting metal spurs from the FBI during a search of their family's Kaneohe home in June 2005. Cambra IV and his attorney, Sam King Jr., declined comment.
Barry Tong, a 21-year veteran of the department with the Windward Crime Reduction Unit, is accused of possessing an unregistered Israeli Military Industries machine gun.
Defense attorney Joaquim Cox said the FBI had searched Tong's home and found no evidence tying him to any of the illegal cockfighting, gambling or drug activities that others in separate indictments had been charged with. It was during a second search of the home that the FBI seized the firearm, which was part of Tong's gun collection, he said.
Both officers were allowed to remain free after each signed a $25,000 bond.
Also pleading not guilty yesterday were Douglas Gilman Sr. and son Doug Gilman Jr. Both had been indicted on charges of operating an illegal cockfight operation for several years on family land across from Waialua Elementary School.
They were released pending trial after each signed a $25,000 bond.
Eric "Babu" Moniz, husband of an FBI secretary who leaked sensitive information to drug dealers, also pleaded not guilty to charges in a second indictment accusing him of selling "ice" to undercover FBI agents.
He was initially charged in an April 6 indictment with providing the information supplied by his wife to members of a drug ring | Source: Star Bulletin - April 21, 2006
Update posted on Apr 21, 2006 - 2:41PM |
Three Honolulu police officers allegedly conspired with a large landowning family on the North Shore to operate an illegal gambling business -- cockfighting, craps and card games -- across from Waialua Elementary School, according to a federal indictment.
In a six-count indictment filed yesterday in U.S. District Court, Sgt. Kevin Brunn of the Wahiawa District, Officer Bryson Apo of the Kaneohe District and officer Glenn Miram, a seven-year veteran assigned to the Narcotics Vice Division, are accused of conspiracy and of obstructing law enforcement, enabling the illegal gambling business to operate.
Brunn and Micha Terragna are also charged in the indictment with three counts of extorting money from Charles Gilman, alleged operator of the cockfights, in exchange for warning them of impending raids by the Police Department's gambling detail. The indictment says Brunn, a 21-year police veteran, allegedly used threats such as saying Gilman was not in prison because of Brunn's efforts.
The charges come nearly a year after FBI agents searched the homes of at least six police officers in Windward and Central Oahu as part of an investigation into illegal cockfighting. They seized computers, files and other records.
Over a period from November 2004 to March 2005, the allegedly gambling operation involved cockfighting, craps and card games that generated gross revenues in excess of $2,000 in a single day, according to the indictment.
Charged with count one of the conspiracy were Douglas Gilman Sr. and sons Douglas Gilman Jr., Charles Gilman and William Gilman, all of Waialua; John Saguibo, a Waialua resident who operated the cockfights that offered cockfighting, craps and card games; and Micha Terragna, who has children from Brunn.
Also charged with obstructing law enforcement were Charles Gilman and Saguibo.
According to the indictment, Apo, an officer with the Windward crime reduction unit, told Charles Gilman on Dec. 16 that the gambling sergeant had told him that the police gambling detail would "hit Waianae tomorrow" -- ensuring that the Waialua cockfight would not be busted.
On Jan. 16, 2005, Apo notified Gilman to "shut down" the Waialua cockfight and that he got the tip "straight from the horse's mouth."
Later, on Jan. 30, Apo told Saguibo that the sergeant of the gambling detail had an officer parked across the street from the Waialua cockfights but that police would not be returning to the cockfights.
Then, on March 19, 2005, Apo contacted Miram to find out where police planed to "raid." Miram allegedly told him that police would "bang Waialua tomorrow." Apo also provided Miram with Saguibo's "push to talk" number.
According to the indictment, Brunn and Terragna allegedly received a total of $3,600 from Gilman between January and February 2005.
Brunn and Terragna could not be reached for comment.
Attempts to reach the Gilmans, Saguibo and Miram were unsuccessful.
Apo's attorney, assistant federal defender Alexander Silvert, said his client is expected to plead not guilty at his upcoming court appearance.
Silvert said he had not seen the indictment, but was notified later by federal prosecutors that they had issued a penal summons for his client to self-surrender.
"As a former police officer, of course my client is not going to run, he's not a danger and he's willing to surrender," Silvert said.
Apo, who spent eight years with the Police Department, voluntarily resigned after HPD began its own internal investigation, Silvert said.
According to city prosecutors, the senior Gilman has four felony convictions, including promoting gambling and owning an illegal business in 1994, and promoting gambling in 1993.
The Gilman Estate is one of the major landowners in Waialua and owns the only shopping center in the former sugar mill town. | Source: Star Bulletin - April 7, 2006
Update posted on Apr 7, 2006 - 12:06PM |
A police union official estimates that the Honolulu Police Department has spent about a quarter of a million dollars to pay five officers who were placed on paid leave nine months ago pending an FBI investigation into illegal cockfighting operations. HPD officials could not comment on the case because it is ongoing, but did confirm that the situation involving more than half a year of paid leave is unprecedented. "When the officers were placed on this leave status, it was never expected for it to be this long," Chief Boisse Correa said through a spokeswoman.
An official for the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers said by averaging what the officers make over the nine-month period, he estimates they have received about a quarter of a million dollars to not come to work. "We're glad they're getting paid ... but with our current budget condition it seems quite a waste to spend approximately $250,000 over nine months because of gossip and innuendo," said Detective Alex Garcia, SHOPO Oahu Chapter chairman.
"We find it terribly disappointing that our officers remain in political limbo instead of providing the service to the community that they are being paid to perform." One officer who was under investigation has since retired, according to police sources. The 28-year veteran had last been assigned to the Criminal Intelligence Unit prior to retiring on Sept. 30, 2005. HPD officials did not confirm that the officer retired but said only that he was no longer with the department.
HPD placed the CIU officer and four others on paid administrative leave about nine months ago while the FBI investigated whether the officers were involved in accepting payoffs from illegal cockfighting operations on the North Shore.
The officers under investigation include the CIU officer who retired; a 22-year veteran sergeant with the gambling detail; two members of the District 4 (Windward Oahu) Crime Reduction Unit -- a six-year and a 20-year veteran; and a 20-year veteran District 2 (Wahiawa-North Shore) patrol sergeant.
None of the officers involved has been arrested or charged with any crimes. A source close to the investigation said one of the officers involved allegedly accepted a payoff from a confidential FBI informant. Honolulu FBI spokesman Tony Lang declined to comment on the investigation. | Source: Star Bulletin - January 11, 2006
Update posted on Jan 15, 2006 - 7:52AM |
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