BY JIM DOOLEY – In addition to other bail conditions, accused Waikiki extortionist Tory Winward must hire an independent monitor who will watch him whenever he leaves his house, a federal judge ruled today.
The U.S. Attorney’s office had opposed any pretrial release of Winward, 44, calling him a danger to the community and a threat to the witnesses against him.
Federal Judge David Ezra added the personal monitor requirement to other bail conditions already placed on Winward, accused with two others of engaging in a violent conspiracy to gain financial control of a Waikiki bar-restaurant.
Before being released, Winward must post $250,000 bail and wear an electronic device that tracks movements.
Ezra added the personal monitor requirement, warning that “it’s going to be very expensive” and can’t be satisfied by the hiring of one of Winward’s “cronies.”
He said he had imposed a similar arrangement when flamboyant Indonesian businessman Sukamto Sia was awaiting trial here on bank and bankruptcy fraud charges.
Sia lived in a $4 million mansion in Los Angeles while awaiting trial. He paid the expenses of private guards hired to watch his movements. The guards, headed by retired U.S. Marshal James Propotnick, lived at the Bel Air estate with Sia.
Winward lawyer Michael Green protested that his client doesn’t have the money that Sia had.
“He’s a mason, he’s been in the union 22 years,” Green said.
But Green said Winward’s supporters, many of whom were in court, might pool their resources to help him.
“We’ll do it,” he said.
Green asked if the watcher was supposed to live inside Winward’s house with the defendant and his family.
Ezra said he didn’t care if the monitor was inside the house or not as long as Windward “doesn’t go anywhere outside the house without this person involved.”
Winward, Curtis Swanson and Jesse Yoshino are charged with using violence to extort a controlling financial interest in the Shack Waikiki, a nightspot on Kuhio Avenue.
“The government is concerned with the danger to witnesses in this case,” said prosecutor Thomas Brady today.
“The defendant does present a danger to the community,” Brady argued.