Two men and a woman were arrested Wednesday in connection with suspected gambling activity at a Hilo business, police said Thursday.
Two men and a woman were arrested Wednesday in connection with suspected gambling activity at a Hilo business, police said Thursday.
According to police, “numerous complaints from the public” led to a search warrant being served at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at Waiakea Games & Things, a gaming establishment at 511 W. Kawailani St., the site of the former Wiki Wiki Video.
Officers confiscated numerous suspected gambling devices and more than $3,900 in cash in the raid, police said.
A 31-year-old Hilo man, Kapela Mauai, was arrested on suspicion of possession of a gambling device and second-degree promotion of gambling. Police said Mauai is a manager at the establishment.
A 33-year-old Pahoa woman, Dondi Feliciano, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree promotion of gambling. According to police, Feliciano is an arcade employee.
And 56-year-old Gene Mancia of Hilo, whom police described as a customer, was arrested on suspicion of gambling.
All three were later released from custody pending further investigation by the Hilo Vice Section.
According to the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs website, Waiakea Games & Things is a trade name for WZ Hilo Partners LLC, whose registered agent is Glenn Haraguchi, whose mailing address is in Ewa Beach, Oahu.
The listed members of WZ Hilo Partners are Lucky G Enterprises Inc., whose only listed officer and director is April Whiting-Haraguchi, and Sack City LLC, whose registered agent and manager is Lance Yamada.
The establishment, formerly known as Winner’z Zone, was also raided as part of a similar investigation and search warrant on March 1, 2016.
Those cases have been referred to the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney and are currently being reviewed.
The raid last year included search warrants served on seven establishments and two homes police say harbored illegal gambling operations.
One of those operations was Triple 7 Amusements on Manono Street, also owned by Yamada and Stacey Yamada.
The Yamadas were booked on suspicion of first- and second-degree promotion of gambling, possessing gambling devices and money laundering.
Two other men, Sergio Cabal, owner of Reel Fun Amusements in the Waiakea Villas business complex, and Jerrimie Pacheco, owner of The Cave on Kilauea Avenue also were booked on suspicion of gambling-related charges.
All were released pending further investigation.
Lance Yamada filed suit in November against then-Hawaii Police Chief Harry Kubojiri and Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth, over Triple 7, which was also raided in 2012.
The suit, which is pending in Hilo Circuit Court, seeks an order barring the seizure of computers and terminals used to operate games at the Manono Street arcade and any contact by police and prosecutors with the establishment’s landlord “until and unless the games being operated at the plaintiffs (sic) establishments are deemed to be illegal gambling devices by the court” or “plaintiffs are guilty of promoting gambling by the operation of the games presently operated by plaintiffs.” It also seeks unspecified damages should a raid occur without those conditions being met.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.