The prosecutor in Mayor Billy Kenoi’s theft case said during a pretrial hearing Friday in Hilo he plans to call an FBI forensic accountant as an expert witness to go through the mayor’s and his family’s finances.
The prosecutor in Mayor Billy Kenoi’s theft case said during a pretrial hearing Friday in Hilo he plans to call an FBI forensic accountant as an expert witness to go through the mayor’s and his family’s finances.
Kenoi faces two felony theft charges, two misdemeanor theft charges, three counts of falsifying a government record and a single count of making a false statement under oath. The charges stem from Kenoi’s misuse of a county-issued credit card, known as a purchasing card or pCard, some of it for personal items.
The theft charges cover the time frame of 2011 to 2014, while the alleged false statement occured on Feb. 6, 2015.
Deputy Attorney General Kevin Takata told Honolulu Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario, who’s hearing the case, that he plans to call the expert “to testify about the avaialable money that Mayor Kenoi had at that time.”
“The lack of available funds to pay for personal purchases was an explanation of why the county pCard was used,” Takata said.
Kenoi told reporters he doesn’t have a personal credit card during a press conference in Honolulu he called last year after Big Island newspapers reported Kenoi used his pCard at a Honolulu hostess bar.
Kenoi’s lawyers are opposing the attorney general’s proposed probe of the mayor’s personal and family finances.
Defense attorney Todd Eddins told the judge the state’s suggestion “that there is somehow intent to deprive through the use of a county pCard” is unfounded given the mayor’s donation of a $22,848 raise he received in 2014 to the Hawaii Island United Way.
“Their position is, ‘This guy’s got a debt, but he’s got no money to pay it.’ Then why is he foregoing $22,848 and giving it to Hawaii Island United Way? And that’s our point,” Eddins said.
An April 24, 2016 Tribune-Herald article had a photo of a United Way pledge card made out by Kenoi, authorizing a $1,000 monthly deduction from his paycheck starting July 1, 2014, with a hand-written note that it is to “end at 6/30/15.”
The Finance Department said the $1,000 deduction is based on the mayor’s increase in take-home pay after taxes and other deductions were withdrawn.
It’s not clear whether Kenoi continued to contribute his raise to the United Way after that pledge expired and Kenoi, the county Finance Department and United Way officials did not respond to a reporter’s inquiry on the subject in April.
Del Rosario said he will allow the expert testimony.
The judge also denied several defense motions to dismiss charges against Kenoi, who’s scheduled to stand trial starting Oct. 10 in Hilo. The pretrial hearing will continued Sept. 30 at 1 p.m.
This story will be updated in Saturday’s Tribune-Herald.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.