Here’s a question that has arisen out of the lengthy federal investigation that resulted in the 22-count indictment of former Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control owner Michael J. Miske Jr. and 12 co-defendants.

Did investigators suspect Miske’s alleged criminal organization was benefiting from an insider’s assistance?

The question hit me last year when prosecutors filed a legal motion seeking to have the case declared “complex” due to both its length and breadth, the number of defendants, number of charges, and sheer amount of evidence. The designation was being sought to provide additional time for both prosecutors and defendants to prepare for trial because of the volume of evidence that has to be reviewed.

According to the memo, filed in August 2020:

The charges in this case arise out of a long-term investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation; the Environmental Protection Agency, Criminal Investigative Division; the Office of the Inspector General in the Department of Justice; Homeland Security Investigations; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Let’s see.

FBI? Check. Of course.

IRS? Check. They have spent years analyzing the bank and business records of Miske’s companies, as well as his personal finances,for violations of tax laws.

EPA? Check. Several charges involve criminal misuse of chemicals used in termite treatment.

ATF? Check. Many of the charges are firearms related, and other allegations include arson, such as burning vehicles to destroy evidence, as well as one instance where burning down a home was considered.

Homeland Security? Check. Naturally involved in drug trafficking and money laundering investigations.

OIG? This one is different. The Department of Justice Office of Inspector General is the internal watchdog that investigates criminal wrongdoing by FBI agents, prison officials, and other DOJ employees, contractors, and grantees. OIG doesn’t investigate violations of agency rules, or other personnel matters, just actions that may violate criminal laws.

OIG’s participation in the Miske investigation was not made public at the time of Miske’s arrest and indictment. At that time, then-U.S. Attorney Kenji Price, while announcing the indictments, gave credit to the law enforcement agencies that contributed to the case, even acknowledging assistance from additional agencies, including “the Coast Guard Investigative Service, the United States Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, the Hawaii National Guard, 93rd Civil Support Team, and the Office of Investigations–Office of the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration….”

But the Justice Department’s own Inspector General was not mentioned.

The Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General investigates alleged violations of criminal law by Department of Justice employees, and also audits and inspects DOJ contractors, grantees, and programs. The OIG regularly reports to Congress, listing cases it has pursued, which include numerous investigations leading to criminal charges against prison officials, law enforcement agents, or other DOJ employees accused of accepting bribes, for example.

It doesn’t appear Miske and his companies were DOJ contractors or grantees, or involved in DOJ programs. That seems to leave “alleged violations of criminal law by Department of Justice employees….”

At one point, I thought perhaps this could have been related to the incident in November 2015 in which Miske was pulled over for talking on his phone while driving near the Kamaaina Termite office in Kakaako, but left the scene before he was cited. When the officer and his boss later sought to follow-up, Miske phoned the officer, Jared Spiker, and threatened “to go to the top of the food chain.” Shortly thereafter, Katherine Kealoha and others in the city prosecutor’s office lodged official complaints with HPD about Spiker’s sergeant, Albert Lee, which led to disciplinary action against him, creating speculation about the nature of Miske’s connection with the prosecutor’s office.

The initial traffic stop was part of a program funded by a federal grant, and I thought OIG might have gotten involved because of the complaints filed with the HPD program funded through this grant. However, the grant turns out to have been from the Department of Transportation, not Justice, so no reason here for the DOJ inspector general to be involved.

I have only found one additional reference to OIG’s involvement in the Miske case. It appears in a declaration dated by August 7, 2020 by attorney Lynn Panagakos, who is part of Miske’s defense team.

8. On August 4, 2020, AUSA Michael Nammar informed me that confidential legal mail from Mr. Miske to his counsel was sent by FDC Honolulu not to Mr. Miske’s counsel, but instead to an attorney employed by the United States Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General. DOJ-OIG has been a member of the Government’s investigation/prosecution team in this case (see Dkt. # 131, p. 3). AUSA Nammar further informed me that it was his understanding that this attorney recognized that the mail was privileged after reading approximately 1-page of the correspondence. AUSA Nammar had no explanation as to why FDC Honolulu mailed clearly identified confidential, privileged, legal mail to the DOJ-OIG attorney, or why this attorney reviewed a portion thereof. AUSA Nammar further advised that this DOJ-OIG attorney would no longer be working on the case.

I then wondered whether it was routine for OIG to be standing by during a complicated long term investigation like this.

However, I queried several people familiar with the operations of the US Attorneys Office in Hawaii, and each said they were not aware of OIG being involved in any criminal investigations locally. All agreed it is extremely unusual.

An online search turned up one prior case of this kind here in Hawaii that would likely have involved OIG. In 2004, the FBI began an investigation after discovering a secretary in the agency’s Honolulu organized crime and drug unit was tipping off her husband and other members of a drug trafficking ring, providing them information from FBI computers. The two year investigation led to charges against more than 35 people, including five Honolulu police officers, a Honolulu liquor commission inspector, and the head of security for Aloha Stadium. Thousands of pages of FBI wiretap transcripts were handed over to HPD, leading to “a massive internal investigation” which resulted in disciplinary action taken against an unknown number of officers, according to news accounts at the time.

Here’s an excerpt from a Honolulu Advertiser story by Peter Boylan published December 21, 2008. Boylan was writing a wrap-up article reviewing the long investigation and its impacts.