Interim US attorney in Hawaii nominated for permanent job
HONOLULU — President Donald Trump wants his interim U.S. attorney in Hawaii to take the job permanently.
Kenji Price is among a slew of U.S. attorney nominations the White House announced on Friday.
The U.S. attorney serves as the chief federal law enforcement officer in a federal judicial district.
Price is a former Army Ranger who graduated from Mililani High School. He previously focused on white collar criminal defense and commercial litigation at a Honolulu firm.
He’s also a former federal prosecutor. He has two Bronze stars.
U.S. Brian Schatz says Price’s Hawaii roots give him a keen understanding of the community.
Hawaii man admits punching police outside Buckingham Palace
LONDON — A tourist from Hawaii pleaded guilty Friday to punching two London police officers outside Buckingham Palace on Valentine’s Day.
A prosecutor said 36-year-old Ryan Robinson of Kahekili Highway asked the armed officers, “Do you know any jokes?” before punching one in the face and trying to grab his Taser on Wednesday.
When the second officer pointed his gun at Robinson and ordered him to stand still, Robinson knocked him to the ground, prosecutor Henry Fitch said. Robinson then pulled the two officers to their feet in “an extraordinary display of strength” and punched one of them again.
He said Robinson was heavily intoxicated and it took several other officers to restrain and arrest him.
Robinson, who appeared in court with a dirty shirt and bruised eye, admitted two counts of assaulting a police officer.
A judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court gave him an eight-week suspended sentence and ordered him to pay each victim 200 pounds ($280).
District Judge Margot Coleman told Robinson that “the fact that you were intoxicated at the time makes you the author of your own misfortunes.”
“It does not diminish the offense in any way,” she said. “If anything, it aggravates it.”
Feds say woman on private jet to Philippines smuggled cash
HONOLULU — A woman headed for the Philippines aboard a private jet leaving Honolulu lied about the amount of cash she had when inspectors found $335,000 in her carry-on bag, prosecutors said.
A U.S. District Court complaint accuses Felina S. Salinas of bulk cash smuggling, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and forfeiture of the cash and property.
Salinas was released on $25,000 bond after a court appearance Wednesday. She said her attorney is flying to Hawaii.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials said she handed officers inspecting the jet a currency report form that declared she was carrying $40,000 and 1,000 Philippine pesos. When the officers opened Salinas’ carry-on bag, they found $335,000 and $9,000 in Australian dollars contained in socks, prosecutors said.
Federal law requires travelers to declare currency over $10,000.
Hawaii News Now reported that Salinas is the business manager of Kingdom of Jesus Christ’s Waipahu church location, and that the mega-church’s leader, Apollo Quiboloy, was also on the plane and was detained. They reported Quiboloy has since taken a commercial flight to the Philippines.
