The United States Marshals Service and the state of Hawaii Department of Public Safety have formed a Hawaii Fugitive Task Force, with the primary mission to seek out and arrest, in a joint and coordinated manner, persons who have outstanding state or federal warrants for their arrest. The intent of this joint effort will be to increase public safety through the location and apprehension of state and federal fugitives.
Although all types of fugitives will be sought out for capture, the Task Force will primarily target fugitives having a criminal history, including, violent crimes, weapon offenses and drug offenses.
I have always said that it is totally unacceptable to see people who have had 14 prior convictions along with 50 or 60 prior arrests still roaming our streets.
We need to remove these individuals from the streets, so that our community, our homes and our families are safe. Therefore, the formation of this Task Force is designed toward protecting our communities from these offenders who have no problem ignoring Court-Orders.
Our message to these fugitives is simple. If you think there are no consequences for running from the law or disobeying a court order — you are fooling yourself. We will find you and we will take you off our streets.
And, this Task Force is already showing immediate signs of success. On Feb. 4th, Samual Paiania, a bank robbery fugitive was arrested by Task Force agents. Today, Nathan Brown, a federal fugitive was also captured by Task Force agents. Mr. Brown was arrested at a residence on the Big Island, with the assistance and support of: the DEA Air Support Unit; the Hawaii County Police Department patrol and criminal intelligence unit; the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources Enforcement Division; and the U.S. Treasury Inspector General’s Office.
And, I would like to thank each of these participating agencies for their assistance and co-operation in this Task Force arrest.
In 1991, Mr. Brown was convicted of numerous counts of filing false federal tax returns. He was thereafter sentenced to approximately 6 years in prison, and he appealed. However, after losing his appeal, Mr. Brown failed to show up to begin serving his sentence. We have been looking for Mr. Brown for the last 10 years. I must add, that as a result of this case, Mr. Dennis “Bumpy” Kanahele admitted to interfering with a Deputy U.S. Marshal who was trying to arrest Mr. Brown in 1994 (3/16). On Feb. 2, 1998, U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor sentenced Mr. Kanahele to 4-months of jail and 4-months of house arrest.
Finally, I have assigned Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Tong to network with this Task Force in its investigations. Mr. Tong is one of my most experienced litigators in this office and I am extremely confident in his ability to oversee these cases.