A longtime friend and associate of  Michael J. Miske Jr. admitted in federal court last week that he assisted Miske in planning and preparing the 2016 kidnapping and murder of Jonathan Fraser.

The startling admission came on Friday, December 4, as Wayne Miller, 37, appeared by telephone before Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu’s U.S. District Court and pleaded guilty to a single count of “racketeering conspiracy” as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

Miller’s plea agreement is the latest piece of the prosecution’s case against Miske and his co-defendants to be placed on the public record, following plea deals with Jacob “Jake” Smith and Jonah Ortiz.

Although Miller’s guilty plea was expected, the disclosure that he had played a role in Fraser’s murder had not been signaled in earlier documents filed in the case.

Miller acknowledged that beginning about 2014, soon after he completed nearly ten years in federal prison on an earlier bank robbery conviction, and continuing until he was indicted in August 2018 on drug charges, he was part of what prosecutors are calling the “Miske Enterprise,” a group of employees and associates of Miske who, under Miske’s direction, engaged in a range of both violent and financial crimes. The goal of their criminal conspiracy, according to prosecutors, was to “enrich” themselves and jointly protect their criminal activities.

Fraser’s kidnapping and murder were allegedly among their crimes. 

Fraser, a close friend of Miske’s son, Caleb, survived a serious traffic accident in November 2015 in which Caleb was critically injured. Caleb died in March 2016 as a result of complications from his injuries, and the elder Miske publicly blamed Fraser for the accident and Caleb’s death. Fraser disappeared suddenly on July 30, 2016 and is presumed dead.

“Although Miller hoped that Miske would eventually change his mind and not carry through with his intentions to kidnap and murder Fraser, Miller nonetheless agreed to assist Miske in developing a plan and understood that Miske intended to carry out the plan,” according to the plea agreement.

Miller didn’t participate directly in Fraser’s murder,  “but he assisted in other ways, including by helping Miske with planning and by purchasing items that Miske intended to use to carry out the kidnapping and murder.”

FBI agents executed a search warrant in August 2017 on a 37′ Boston Whaler belonging to a company controlled by Miske based on an as-yet secret affidavit alleging the boat had been used in Fraser’s murder. Over 100 items, included pieces of equipment, copies of digital data, parts of the boat itself, and swabs taken in various locations were retained as evidence when the boat was returned.

Miske also directed Miller “to arrange for other individuals to be assaulted and even murdered,” according to the plea agreement. “In addition to Fraser…Miske instructed Miller to arrange for five other individuals to be murdered. Although Miller agreed to assist Miske, none of these individuals were ultimately killed.”

Miller acknowledged accompanying Miske co-defendant Michael Malone, formerly known as Michael Buntenbah, on a trip to California in July 2014 to purchase about 20 pounds of cocaine using $400,000 in cash supplied by Miske. 

Following the exchange of cash for drugs, Malone and Miller, accompanied by several associates of their “Mexican cocaine source,” were driving toward San Francisco when they were stopped and arrested by DEA agents who had been surveilling the transaction. Malone and Miller were detained but released without charges when the stash of cocaine was found in one of the other vehicles in their three-car caravan.

Although that drug buy was broken up, Miller acknowledged that he continued to distribute methamphetamine and other drugs during the four years he was part of the Miske gang.

In 2016, according to the plea agreement,  “Miske instructed an employee of one of his companies to create fraudulent pay stubs for Miller so that Miller could submit them to his probation officer and pretend to have been legitimately employed.”

The plea agreement does not name the company that provided the fake payroll records. However, the federal indictment of Miske and ten co-defendants, made public in July 2020, alleges Miske’s Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control, Inc. “served as headquarters for the planning of criminal activities, the laundering of illicit proceeds, and the fraudulent ’employment’ of individuals whose ‘work’ consisted of engaging in acts of violence or fraud on behalf of the Miske Enterprise.”

In exchange for Miller’s guilty plea and agreement to testify against Miske and others, prosecutors reduced all the outstanding charges to the single count of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum 20 year sentence, and a fine of up to $250,000.

Miske and Miller have known each other for 25 years, according to a letter Miske wrote to Judge Michael Seabright in March 2006 while Miller was awaiting sentencing for a bank robbery committed when he was just 18.

Miske, already a young and apparently successful businessman and president of Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control, described Miller as a close friend, a “loyal,” “true,” and “real” friend.

“I consider Miller like my 3rd  brother,” Miske wrote at the time.

Miske’s letter said he had known Miller for eleven years. That would have dated their friendship to 1995, when Miske was a 21-year old with an already lengthy arrest record, and Miller was just a kid of 11 or 12.