The attorney currently representing Kaulana Freitas, one of ten co-defendants in the federal racketeering case against former Honolulu businessman Michael Miske, has filed an appeal asking Federal Judge Derrick Watson to allow Freitas to be released to the custody of his father pending trial.

If the appeal is successful, Freitas would become the fourth of Miske’s co-defendants to be free on bond pending trial on the charges, which is now scheduled for September 2022.

In addition, one original defendant, Hunter Wilson, has already pleaded guilty as part of a deal with prosecutors, and is now free on bond while awaiting sentencing. A second original defendant, Normann Akau, has also entered a guilty plea, but his earlier appeal of the detention order was denied, and he remains in federal detention.

Freitas, 33, whose nickname is “Shorty,” is charged with being a member of Miske’s racketeering conspiracy, conspiring and using a termite treatment chemical as a ”chemical weapon” in an attack on a Honolulu nightclub, and is charged along with others of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, and other drugs.

However, the drug trafficking attributed directly to Freitas appears to be relatively small scale, at least based on what has been disclosed by prosecutors to date.

“The drug charges in the Superseding Indictment relate to Freitas’ role in the Enterprise’s involvement in the trafficking of controlled substances. Text messages found on an Enterprise member’s cellular phone show Freitas and the member agreeing to a transaction for a quantity of oxycodone pills at $20 each,” prosecutors said in their response to the Freitas appeal filed in court on Friday. This contrasts with allegations against other Miske defendants involving distribution of multiple pounds of meth or cocaine at a time, including drugs stolen at gunpoint from other drug dealers, which were then distributed the drugs by Miske’s associates.

Freitas was ordered to be held in Honolulu’s Federal Detention Center until trial following a hearing before Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield in July 2020.

However, Freitas’ attorney, Marc J. Victor, filed an appeal last week seeking to overturn that decision, arguing that the earlier detention hearing was held just four days after Freitas’ original attorney withdrew from the case and was replaced by a second court-appointed lawyer.

Victor, who is Freitas’ third attorney, was just assigned the case in October.

“At the July 31, 2020-Detention Hearing, Mr. Freitas’ counsel presented no evidence or witnesses,” Victor said in a legal memorandum supporting the appeal.

In addition, Victor said Mansfield’s order cited a section of law that applies to those with prior felony convictions.

“Magistrate Judge Mansfield did not, and could not, find Mr. Freitas had been convicted of a felony while he was on release or had a felony conviction within the prior five years because Mr. Freitas does not have any felony convictions,” Victor wrote.

A check of Hawaii court records shows Freitas pleaded no contest to a charge of 4th degree theft in a 2011 incident, a petty misdemeanor, and to contempt of court in 2013.

Victor pointed to factors that should have been considered, including “the person’s character, physical and mental condition, family ties, employment, financial resources, length of residence in the community, community ties, past conduct, history relating to drug or alcohol abuse, criminal history, and record concerning appearance at court proceedings….”

A report prepared by the court’s Pretrial Services and available at the time of the earlier hearing concluded Freitas has “extensive ties to the community and a history of employment. He has a minimal history of substance abuse and no known mental health issues.”

“Mr. Freitas’ father is a local businessman willing to take third party custody of his son and let him live in his home on Oahu,” Victor said. In addition, Freitas has two sons living on Oahu, and his former girlfriend, the mother of his two sons, “does not believe Mr. Freitas is a danger to the community.”

In addition, “Mr Freitas’ mother and a few other family members have moved to Las Vegas, Nevada…and is willing to use the equity in her home as security for Mr. Freitas’ bond,” Victor’s memo argues.

However, there are complicating factors created by family ties between Miske and Freitas.

Kaulana Freitas’ mother, Heidi (Ivester) Freitas, is a first cousin of Mike Miske. Her late mother, Eldoreen (Lau) Ivester, was the sister of Maydeen (Lau) Stancil, mother of both Miske and his half-brother and co-defendant, John Stancil.

Heidi Freitas’ brother (and also Mike Miske’s first cousin) Craig Ivester, was convicted by a jury in December 2000 of conspiracy to distribute narcotics, and money laundering involving the proceeds of drug trafficking. He was sentenced to 20-years in federal prison.

Ivester was released from federal custody in April 2017. In 2019, he reported living in Henderson, Nevada, about 16 miles from downtown Las Vegas, federal court records show.

Nevada business records show Ivester and his wife formed a business earlier this year which is registered at a Las Vegas address.

Freitas’ father, Edward “Denny” Freitas, operated Kamaaina Plumbing, one of the businesses owned by Miske, for several years, but appears to have severed his relations with Miske, his former wife’s cousin, sometime around 2015, state business registration records indicate. He was replaced as general manager of Kamaaina Plumbing by another of Miske’s cousins, Allen Lau.

There is also a question of how much of Kaulana Freitas’ employment history, cited by Victor in the pending appeal, was tied to Mike Miske’s businesses.

State records show Freitas was licensed as a pest control operator for Miske’s Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control. He was also licensed as a car salesman in 2015, at the same time another Miske company, Hawaii Partners LLC, was licensed as a used car dealer.

In addition, prosecutors allege “Freitas deposited over $162,000 in checks written to him by Co-defendant Michael J. Miske, Jr. in 2018-2019.”

In 2019, Kaulana Freitas was the successful buyer in the foreclosure auction of a home on Kumukaho Place in Hawaii Kai with a bid of $1.4 million. After the auction, Freitas disclosed he had bid on behalf of Mike Miske, who then took his place as purchaser of the property.

Miske financed the sale, in part, with a $1,050,000 mortgage loan from Home Point Financial Corporation that provided 75% of the purchase price.

The federal government has already provided notice that it will seek forfeiture of the Kumukahi Place home and other Miske-owned properties, including his oceanfront mansion, if he is convicted on the main racketeering conspiracy charge in the Second Superseding Indictment.

A hearing on Freitas’ appeal is scheduled for Thursday morning, December 16, before Judge Derrick Watson.