KAILUA-KONA — A Hawaii Police Department official refused to field questions from the county Police Commission when asked about the investigation of missing drug evidence.
“I won’t comment,” said Deputy Chief Kenneth Bugado Jr. to commissioners Friday morning at the West Hawaii Civic Center. “It’s an ongoing investigation.”
Commission Chairman Peter Hendricks then told Bugado that transparency is important in these types of situations. The deputy chief agreed with him.
On Thursday, the department released information that a former HPD officer was a person of interest after drugs were found missing from evidence. The initial investigation began in October 2017. According to authorities, an amount of cocaine recovered as evidence in 2014 was found to be lighter than reported during its initial recovery.
According to a police release, the discrepancy was discovered when the evidence was being weighed in preparation to use a small quantity of the drug for training purposes.
At the time of the investigation, the release indicates, the officer was immediately placed on administrative leave without pay. Audits of other evidence recovered by the officer revealed “other anomalies, which revealed cases whereby there was a weight discrepancy in marijuana concentrate, (hashish), from two separate investigations.”
The officer has since retired from the department. Hawaii County Prosecutor Mitch Roth thinks the individual might have retired this year and doesn’t know if the former employee was receiving retirement benefits.
In an interview on Hawaii Public Radio, Police Chief Paul Ferreira said the officer held the rank of detective. The former officer’s years of service were not disclosed. The officer’s identity also was not released nor was the amount of drugs missing.
“I’m hoping this case can be resolved and the public can know details that will allow us to make necessary changes to make the department better,” Hendricks said after Friday’s meeting. “We need to have absolute zero tolerance for actions which damage the Police Department’s ability to serve the public.”
Ferreira was not present during the commission meeting. Bugado informed commissioners the chief was on Oahu attending a meeting.
Ferreira has declined to make further statements regarding the investigation.
“As stated in the media release, this is still an open investigation; therefore, no additional comments will be made by me or my staff,” Ferreira stated in an email Thursday afternoon.
The case was forwarded to Roth’s office March 2 for a review of possible charges.
“We’re determining whether to keep it here or if we have any conflicts,” Roth said.
If a conflict of interest is determined, Roth said the case would be forwarded to the state Department of the Attorney General, where it could be prosecuted or assigned to a prosecutor’s office in another county.
Email Tiffany DeMasters at tdemasters@westhawaiitoday.com.