Police this afternoon charged a 42-year-old Hilo woman they allege staged a break-in at her Waiakea Uka home to cover her embezzlement of more than $10,000 in cash from the Waiakea Intermediate School Ukulele Band Booster Club.
Lt. Miles Chong of the Hilo Criminal Investigations Section said JoAnn Maldonado faces charges of second-degree theft and making a false report to police. Her bail was set at $2,500 and her initial court appearance will be Monday unless she posts bail before then. If Maldonado posts bail, her court appearance will be at a later date.
Chong said Maldonado made the initial report of a burglary on Monday and police arrested her Tuesday after detectives determined through “developments from investigation and interviews with other people” that Maldonado, the booster club’s vice president, took the money for herself, staged the burglary and made a fictitious report to police.
“We haven’t determined the exact amount yet but it’s in excess of $10,000,” Chong said.
According to Chong, it didn’t appear that the officials of the school or others in the booster club, which is a registered charitable organization, knew about the apparent theft of funds meant to benefit the popular youth band, which was started by the late George Camarillo Sr. in 1970.
George Camarillo Jr., who assumed directorship of the band in 1982, said in a 2009 interview the band had made at least 10 trips to Disneyland, five to Japan, numerous interisland excursions, plus trips to Colorado, Las Vegas, and Mexico.
Chong said, at this point, there doesn’t appear to be accomplices in the alleged theft.
Anyone with information is asked to call the police non-emergency line at 935-3311 or Crime Stoppers at 961-8300.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
