Hawaii News Now reporter Lynn Kawano had another scoop on Tuesday with a report that the First Deputy in Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro’s office has received a “subject letter” from the Department of Justice.

The letter is a notice that the recipient’s conduct is considered “within the scope of a Grand Jury’s investigation.”

The grand jury is continuing a probe that led to indictments in October 2017 against former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, his wife, Katherine Kealoha, a top city prosecutor, and a group of Honolulu police officers accused of conspiring to fabricate a criminal case against a Katherine Kealoha’s uncle, who had a pending lawsuit accusing her of misappropriating funds from family members.

As Kawano reported: “The development is significant as it represents the first official notification that an ongoing public corruption scandal — with ex-Police Chief Louis Kealoha at its center — has extended beyond the Honolulu Police Department.”

A mainland law firm’s website offers this definition of a “subject”:

Subject of an Investigation: The term “subject of an investigation” has a particular meaning within the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). According to the DOJ Handbook, a “subject” is: “a person whose conduct is within the scope of a Grand Jury’s investigation.” A subject is somewhere between a target and a witness. A subject has engaged in conduct that may look suspicious or unethical, but the prosecutor isn’t certain that a provable crime has been committed and wants to do more investigating in order to be sure.

Receiving such a letter isn’t good news.

Kawano reported:

“It scares the bejeezus out of people,” said Ken Lawson, of the University of Hawaii Richardson Law School.

Lawson said a subject letter is one level below a target letter, but it’s not something that should be taken lightly.

“It’s like any day now they could be knocking on my door. It puts the fear in people.”

This is a successor to the original grand jury that charged the Kealoha’s and the HPD officers. It sounds like things are heating up once again in the spreading scandal.

Another note. Kawano reported last week that a 2015 lawsuit filed by the Kealoha’s against the city ethics commission, along with its then-director and investigator, has been dismissed. The couple has sued to block the commission from pursuing an investigation that, in hindsight, was tracking some of the same allegedly illegal actions that eventually led to the federal indictments of the Kealohas filed late last year.

Dismissal of the case provides further vindication of the actions by the commission’s former executive director, Chuck Totto, and investigator, retired HPD captain Letha DeCaires. Both lost their jobs in the wake of the Kealoha’s lawsuit.

In a quick online search, I was unable to find any other news reports of the dismissal beyond that of Hawaii News Now. That’s unfortunate.