HPD Major Retires Amid Justice Department Corruption Probe
Gordon Shiraishi was a part of an elite surveillance unit at the center of the federal case involving Honolulu’s former police chief.
A Honolulu police major caught up in a federal corruption investigation involving city law enforcement has retired after 33 years of service.
Gordon Shiraishi鈥檚 last day with the Honolulu Police Department was Friday.
His retirement comes amid an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Justice Department into HPD and the Honolulu Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.
The criminal probe began after evidence surfaced that indicated former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his wife, Katherine, a city prosecutor, had attempted to frame her uncle, Gerard Puana, in 2013 for the theft of their mailbox, apparently so that they could gain the upper hand in a lawsuit.
Shiraishi was a captain聽in HPD鈥檚 Criminal Intelligence Unit at the time of the alleged theft. The unit is an elite group of officers who conduct surveillance and聽investigate organized crime and terrorism. Several of its members were involved in the investigation of the stolen mailbox.
In December, former HPD officer Niall Silva, who worked for Shiraishi in CIU, pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy charges after admitting that he took part in the set-up. Silva, who has agreed to work with federal officials, faces up to five years in prison.
Court documents indicated that there were at least five other unnamed co-conspirators in the case, one of which is Katherine Kealoha. The other four were described as HPD officers.
Louis Kealoha received a target letter from the Justice Department indicating he was a suspect in its investigation shortly after Silva鈥檚 guilty plea. Four other officers, including Shiraishi, also received target letters.
Kealoha retired with a lucrative payout after receiving a target letter while the four other officers聽were reassigned and had their police powers revoked.
Shiraishi was promoted to major in 2014 and transferred to HPD’s training division. According to HPD, he had been聽reassigned to the information technology branch when he retired.
In 1991, Shiraishi was suspended by HPD for five days after he 鈥渕istreated a prisoner鈥 at the Kalihi station. According to , he had also falsified records.
Attempts to reach Shiraishi were unsuccessful. An HPD spokeswoman also declined a request for comment.
It鈥檚 unclear how much longer the Justice department investigation will go on.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Wheat, of San Diego, who is spearheading the federal grand jury proceedings, has refused to talk about his work. But Wheat continues聽to visit Hawaii every other week to interview witnesses and present evidence of alleged wrongdoing to the grand jury.
In addition to the mailbox theft, investigators have been looking at another alleged attempt to frame Puana聽as well as a convoluted ticket-fixing scheme that has raised questions about聽Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro.
Meanwhile, the Honolulu Police Commission is searching for a new police chief, a process that could take until this summer聽to complete.
