Hawaii News Now reported last week that a grand jury has returned felony indictments against six men associated with the self-proclaimed Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi who were part of a larger group that took part in a January 17, 2019 attempt to takeover the headquarters of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, reportedly detaining, threatening, and assaulting several OHA employees after announcing they were there to seize agency assets.

This Hawaii News Now story was surprisingly the only mention of the indictments in the mainstream media that I could find.

The Kauai-based Kingdom of Atooi is one of several competing groups advocating varied forms of Native Hawaiian sovereignty, with each claiming to represent the mythical Hawaiian Kingdom in one form or another.

During the OHA office takeover, the men from Atooi were dressed in red or black t-shirts identifying them as “federal marshals,” most also displaying badges . Police were called and a two-hour standoff ensued. Four men were arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault and harassment.

They were quickly released on $100 bail each, while others involved in the takeover were not detained. Prosecutors quickly withdrew the charges without prejudice, meaning that additional charges could be brought following a more thorough investigation.

The latest indictment alleges several felonies were committed during the incident, raising the stakes for all involved.

The six named in the indictment are:

Sadhu-Bhusana Bott
Jordan Faletogo
Ene Faletogo (aka Ene Faletoga)
Rheece Lopaka Richard Bulu Kahawai
Peter Laban (aka Peter Laman)
Remedio Dabaluz

Dabaluz was named in a single count of first degree terroristic threatening, a Class A felony, for threatening Zuri Aki.

The other five men each face two counts of kidnapping, also a Class A felony, for restraining OHA employees Davis Price and Kyle-Lee Ladao “with intent to terrorize…and/or interfere with the performance of any governmental or political function….”

The five are also charged with one count of second degree assault, a Class B felony, for attacking Price, who was admitted to Kaiser Hospital after the attack with two broken ribs and multiple contusions.

Conviction on Class A felonies is punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while a Class B felony sentence is as much as 10 years.

According to the indicdtment, all except Dabaluz could face enhanced or extended sentences if convicted as repeat or persistent offenders.

Faletoga is the only one with a serious criminal record, having pleaded guilty in state court to three counts of promoting dangerous drugs in 2007, for which he was sentenced to a ten year term in prison.

Two weeks before the January 17 incident at OHA, a group of about eight men claiming to represent the Kingdom of Atooi first entered the OHA lobby on January 4, 2019.

A civil lawsuit filed on behalf of Davis Price later described what then took place.

“While inside the lobby area, Atooi began yelling and making aggressive gestures and loud statements that they were there to take over the building, to seize assets, and arrest OHA Trustees. Employees at OHA were able to clearly hear the threats made….,” the lawsuit alleged.

The men agreed to leave, but told OHA staff they would return. And they did.

A larger group 13 men returned late in the morning of January 17, 2019 and again immediately attempted “to take control of the OHA office area by the use of force and violence,” according to the civil lawsuit.

The men confronted Price, “demanding to be allowed into the back-office area adjacent to the lobby.” Davis was blocking the door to the area, and the men from Atooi then started “forcing their way through the door and…pulling Mr. Price away fron the door striking hinm in the face, head, neck and shoulder areas.”

He was then overpowered, and forced face down on the floor. While his his arms and legs held, another man put him in a “rear naked choke hold” which left him unable to breath. He was then carried to the front door by four of the men who then swung Price and threw him head first out the lobby door, the lawsuit alleged.

According to the Kingdom of Atooi, its government officials, ambassadors and assisting diplomats, as well as its “Federal Marshalls,” are subject to the Hawaiian Kingdom Constitution and not to Hawaii or US law.

When Ene Falatogo was arrested in November 2020 after an altercation at the Nomnom Convenience Store at King and Cooke Streets in Honolulu, a letter from the Office of the Royal Magistrate addressed to the City and County of Honolulu, the chief of police, and Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm advised these officials they had been “found liable for some or all of the following: defamation of character, discrimination, terroristic threatening, detainment of a diplomat, bail fraud, lack of jurisction, illegal confiscation of Government Property of the Sovereign Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi/Hawaiian Kingdom.”

The letter, which is included in the court record, said these offenses “require monetary remedies, fines, fees, and penalties, and may include imprisonment as determined by the Royal Magistrates of the Kingdom of Atooi/Hawaiian Kingdom….”

The folks associated with the Kingdom of Atooi have reportedly leveraged their sovereignty claims to solicit donations, as well as by selling “Kingdom” drivers licenses and passports to unwary buyers.

Here’s something I wrote back in early 2014, which is as true today as it was then.

Suddenly it seems we’ve got a bumper crop of Wannabe Royals staking their claims, however questionable, to wield power on behalf of what each says is a sovereign Hawaiian government tracing its roots back prior to the 1893 “overthrow” of the kingdom.

It seems like everywhere you turn, there’s another cult-like group formed around a charismatic central figure claiming sovereign rights and asserting that they and their followers are above the laws that apply to the rest of us. Pretenders, some might call them.

Their claims, of course, are conflicting and overlapping, leading to repeated attempts by certain sovereigns to undercut the claims of others, and vice versa.

Timid news coverage and a reluctance among many Hawaiians to publicly criticize these royal claimants for fear of hurting other more mainstream sovereignty initiatives that are also underway has resulted in the Wannabe Royals getting more respect and deference than they would otherwise merit.

Also see:

”
“The Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi,” Hawaiian Kingdom Blog, June 26, 2013.

“Hawaii Monitor: Some Laughable Royalty Claims,” Civil Beat, February 26, 2014.

Critical reporting needed on self-proclaimed sovereigns,” iLind.net, January 30, 2019.