HONOLULU (CN) – Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha was put on administrative leave this week being informed that he is the target of a federal grand jury investigation.
Kealoha received a target letter from federal investigators after a former police officer pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to evidence tampering in a case that pitted Chief Kealoha and his wife, former deputy prosecutor Katherine Kealoha, against Katherine Kealoha’s uncle, Gerald Puana.
Puana claims in a separate federal civil suit that he was framed for the theft of the Kealoha’s mailbox and incarcerated for 72 days in retaliation for suing the Kealohas months earlier on claims they mishandled his mother’s assets, totaling some $150,000.
Kealoha ducked a state ethics commission probe earlier in the year and filed a countersuit this past June, describing the ethics committee chairman as “besotted with power.”
At a press conference, Kealoha’s attorney Myles Breiner insisted that the Kealohas have done nothing wrong and look forward to their day in court, if necessary.
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell called on the police commission to take decisive action at its Jan. 4 meeting.
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Honolulu Police Chief Resigns as Probe Deepens January 9, 2017