News

HONOLULU – United States Attorney Clare E. Connors announced that Confluence Corp. d/b/a Regal Service Company (“Regal”), a Hawaii corporation and Department of the Navy contractor, has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting false claims for payment for work performed by unqualified welders on the USS Chung Hoon, USS John Paul Jones, and USS William P. Lawrence at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility between January 2020 and October 2021.

HONOLULU – United States Attorney Clare E. Connors announced that Gabriel Antone Eberhardt, 42, of Detroit, Michigan, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Jill A. Otake to 30 years in federal prison—including 12 years for conspiring to distribute fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine and a consecutive 18 years for discharging a firearm in connection with the distribution of heroin—as well as 5 years of supervised release.

HONOLULU – United States Attorney Clare E. Connors announced today that Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Michael Nammar will lead the efforts of her Office in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the upcoming November 5, 2024, general election.

HONOLULU – United States Attorney Clare E. Connors announced that Robert Francis Dumaran, 47, of Kahului, Maui, pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to possessing explosive powders as a convicted felon and possessing an unregistered destructive device. Dumaran’s sentencing is set for February 2, 2025, before United States District Judge Jill A. Otake.

HONOLULU – Mark Kazee, 60, of Hawaii, pleaded guilty today to violating the Atomic Energy Act by transferring equipment containing Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-regulated radioactive material from a company he was employed by, which held an NRC required license for the material, to another company without making a record of such transfer as required.

HONOLULU – United States Attorney Clare E. Connors announced that Stephen Timothy Wells, 41, pleaded guilty today in federal court to executing a scheme to defraud health care benefit programs through the submission of false billings. 

HONOLULU – United States Attorney Clare E. Connors announced that Andre Fulton, II, 30, of Georgia, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Jill A. Otake to three months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for theft of government money. Fulton was also ordered to pay $202,309.27 in restitution and a $100 fine.

HONOLULU – United States Attorney Clare E. Connors announced that Jess Kiesel Lee, age 43, of Kula, Maui, was arrested on September 18, 2024 pursuant to a criminal complaint for possessing explosives as a felon and damaging property by means of explosives.

HONOLULU – Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has approved an initial set of 78 communities across 47 states, territories, and the District of Columbia for designation under Section 1103 of the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022.

HONOLULU – United States Attorney Clare E. Connors announced that Henry K. Lii, 58, of Oahu, was sentenced yesterday by Senior United States District Judge Helen Gillmor to 181 months in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

HONOLULU – United States Attorney Clare E. Connors announced that Bryan Melvin Brandenburg, 65, of Oahu, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi to 70 months in prison followed by 1 year of supervised release for sending e-mail threats to bomb buildings in Utah, California, and across the United States. Brandenburg was previously convicted at trial by a federal jury of seven counts involving sending the threatening e-mails.

HONOLULU – A former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer, who pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to gather and deliver national defense information to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), will serve ten years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Chief U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson imposed the sentence this morning in Honolulu, Hawaii.