A former employee of Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii is accused of embezzling almost $90,000 from the statewide medical laboratory testing company.
A Hilo grand jury on March 9 indicted Sharleen Makaneole, also known as Jaynne Avelin, with first-degree theft, a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
A bench warrant issued with the indictment set bail for Makaneole, a 40-year-old Hilo woman, at $5,000. She hadn’t been arrested on the warrant as of Tuesday.
The indictment claims Makaneole, a former accounts payable manager in the Hilo office of Clinical Labs, “in a continuing course of conduct, obtained or exerted unauthorized control over … moneys belonging to Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii LLC, by deception, with intent to deprive” the company of the funds.
The document states the thefts took place in a five-year period between Jan. 1, 2008, and Feb. 27, 2013.
“I can tell you, at the time of the allegations, she was employed at Clinical Labs,” said police Lt. Greg Esteban of the Hilo Criminal Investigations Section. He declined to comment further about the allegations themselves.
A police spokeswoman said in a Tuesday email the amount of money Makaneole is alleged to have stolen is $89,753. The legal threshold for first-degree theft is $20,000.
Normally, the statute of limitations for first-degree theft is three years, which means charges generally cannot be brought more than three years after the alleged offense took place. The indictment document, however, cites a section of Hawaii Revised Statutes that provides if the matter “involves either fraud or deception … or a breach of fiduciary responsibility” and “the action is being commenced within three years after the discovery of the offense” the statute of limitations can be extended to six years.
The report number indicates the investigation started in 2013.
According to the company’s website, Clinical Labs was founded in 1971 in Hilo by Dr. Moon S. Park, a pathologist trained at the renowned Mayo Clinic. Today, the company has more than 850 employees and 50-plus locations statewide.
According to the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs website, Clinical Labs is owned by two Austin, Texas-based corporations, Sonic Hawaii Holdings Inc. and Sonic USA Holdings Inc.
Bizipedia lists the principals of both entities as Christopher D. Wilks, Colin S. Goldschmidt, Paul Alexander, Sharon Ellis, Sheridan Foster and Stephen R. Shumpert, all of Austin.
Trevor Woodrow, Clinical Labs corporate counsel, declined to comment until consulting with prosecutors. A call to County Prosecutor Mitch Roth wasn’t returned by press time.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
