Teacher pleads guilty in fraud case ADVERTISING Teacher pleads guilty in fraud case HONOLULU (AP) — A man who taught English at a well-known chain of foreign language schools in Japan pleaded guilty Tuesday to defrauding his students out of
Teacher pleads guilty in fraud case
HONOLULU (AP) — A man who taught English at a well-known chain of foreign language schools in Japan pleaded guilty Tuesday to defrauding his students out of more than $230,000.
As part of a plea deal with prosecutors, Rick Mikaele pleaded guilty to mail fraud and impersonating a federal officer or employee.
Mikaele, who was a Nova teacher, told two students he could get them a high rate of return by putting their money into a First Hawaiian Bank certificate of deposit, according to an indictment. He then sent them fake bank statements and a bogus letter to make it look like the U.S. Internal Revenue Service was demanding $7,000 in taxes for profit earned on the money, the court document said.
Mikaele collected nearly $128,000 from one student and nearly $109,000 from another, the indictment said.
The indictment said Mikaele is from Waimanalo, Oahu. In court, defense attorney Steve Cedillos said Mikaele travels between Hawaii and Japan, where he and his wife operate a concert promotion business.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 7, but Cedillos said his client will need more time to raise about $236,000 in restitution with the concert promotion business. His wife recently gave birth in Japan, Mikaele said.
Abuse probe of archbishop heads to US mainland
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Vatican officials prosecuting Guam’s archbishop for alleged sex abuse moved their investigation from the territory to Hawaii and now the U.S. mainland so they can interview potential witnesses.
But attorney David Lujan, who represents four people who accused the archbishop of abuse, said he instructed his clients not to testify without their lawyer present, which could complicate the investigation.
“No one knows what the procedures are, what the rules are,” Lujan said Wednesday, underscoring how the secrecy of the Vatican’s canonical trials can conflict with secular legal standards.
Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron faces multiple allegations of sex abuse of altar boys in the 1970s. Apuron denies the claims and has not been criminally charged.
American Cardinal Raymond Burke, a top canon lawyer who led the Vatican’s high court until 2014, is presiding. He left Guam on Saturday and advised victims in Hawaii and Phoenix that they could offer their testimony this week.
Lujan represents Apuron’s four accusers in their civil litigation against the archbishop and the archdiocese. He said he sought information about what his clients could expect if they participated in the Vatican’s trial, and received no answer. Lujan said he was told by church officials he couldn’t see the court record, and decided not to participate.
