I’m still digesting my first foray into the world of Occupied Forces Hawaii Army, led by a man known at Sam K. Lilikoi, who carries the rank of colonel. Here’s a copy of his “Identification Certificate/Motor Vehicle Operator License” located while searching online.
This doesn’t solve the question, “Who is the man using the name Sam Lilikoi?” It’s an obvious alias, which does make it a little harder to dig into his background. But that’s not the only question the ID card raises.
According to this document, Lilikoi was “commissioned” on June 28, 2018. One has to wonder, commissioned by whom? On what authority? Through what process?
ID card’s date of issue, 3/11/2021. Same questions. Issued by whom? What authority? Through what process?
Presumably, this is supposed to serve in place of a State of Hawaii issued driver’s license. OFH is not the first group to con people into believing that this is all that is needed to drive legally on public streets. At times, it seems police officers choose to look the other way when running into a driver who produces an weirdo third-party license like this one, probably to avoid the hassle involved in issuing a citation.
“Expiration date: CLASSIFIED.” Really? Same questions.
To me, this is just another “tell” that there’s a con being run here. There just isn’t enough yet known about the group, or Mr. Lilikoi, to know just what this particular version of the sovereignty con involves, or how big a problem it could become.
But there is are those who take this dead seriously, recycled uniforms and all.
And the group has at least one articulate defender who contacted me after the Civil Beat piece was published earlier this week. She was completely in character, claiming the rank of captain, O.F.H. ARMY, her email signature followed by various abbreviations I assume are positions, “C.A./ M.G./ J.A.G.”
This seems to be its own little alternate reality.
But here’s how it plays out when push comes to shove.
On Tuesday morning, a hearing in Honolulu’s Federal District Court was held to determine whether Lindsey Kinney, who was arrested and charged with threatening several people who had been involved in an altercation with Sam Lilikoi early this year, should be held at the Federal Detention Center without bond, as requested by prosecutors.
According to minutes of the brief court hearing, Kinney refused to sign the required financial affidavit. It was nonetheless accepted by the court.
Then Kinney tried the “I’m not a US citizen, so leave me alone” ploy. It went nowhere.
According to the minutes:
Per Defendant’s request, Mr. Ignacio [his court appointed attorney] represents that Defendant claims to be national sovereign who is repatriated to the United States of America and objects to the authority of the Court. Objection overruled.
Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3231, the Court has jurisdiction over the instant case involving alleged criminal conduct within the District of Hawaii.
Kinney was handed over to U.S. Marshalls and will be detained at the Federal Detention Center until his trial, or until further order from the court.
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I love the expiration date. He’s put some thought into that thing.
US forces are supposed to salute officers of allied militaries. I don’t know whether there’s a special salute when they encounter cosplay warriors.
While it might be tempting to laugh this stuff off as goofy high jinks of a coterie of delusional cosplaying buffoons or yet another batch of silly sovereignty scammers — and it certainly is tempting — the facts that they are invoking armed forces rank, structure and terminology, creating false documents, and that at least one has allegedly made threats of serious violence against public officials makes this a situation that should be taken seriously.
Other self-styled sovereigntists who dwell in alternative realities and fancy themselves above the law have demonstrated a penchant for violence and destruction, ranging from storming state offices and causing injury and property damage, to breaking into priceless Iolani palace, to endangering the public with unregistered, unlicensed, uninsured, and unsafe vehicles. Even at the risk of elevating their visibility and perhaps their status among the reality-challenged community, these kooks should be scrutinized and dealt with very harshly if warranted. This group appears to present a target-rich environment for conspiracy charges, just to start, based on the dispute over their “warship” and allegedly related threats against the governor, mayor, and Waianae harbor master.
You’re doing an important public service by shining a light while many of us just cringe in shame and other media apparently snicker in quiet disbelief. The January 6 fiasco in DC shows us all just how foolish it can be to look the other way and take racial extremists, security threat groups, and fringe “militias” too lightly.
While I agree with 99% of your comment, the Devil’s Advocate in me can’t help but address “Other self-styled sovereigntists (sic) who dwell in alternative realities and fancy themselves above the law…”
The “law”? You mean the “law” of the conquering colonialist who forced himself onto a new, unexploited land, called it his own, and then imposed “laws” so that land could be divvied up amongst his rich colonialist buddies while leaving the original occupants out and not part of the game (unless a self proclaimed “Royal” with dubious rights to sell off the land) and subjugated to the “laws” of the new occupiers with enforcement by employees of the colonialist that are armed with weapons that the original occupants don’t have because it would have been deemed “illegal”?
Yep, that’s the law I mean, and it’s far from perfect but has served everyone much better than the dogma, constant warfare, dictatorship, royal puppetry, elitism, incompetence, and corruption that preceded it, warped nostalgia and utopian fantasies notwithstanding.
The sovereignty movement, however imperfect it may be, is addressing real and deeply felt injustice. Laughing at militias and prosecuting scams won’t make the grievances go away. I trust that we can still laugh at militias and prosecute scams.
Perhaps you’re new to Hawaii, but that’s not the way things went down here.
Wait, are you referring to that elaborate US legal system that ensures equal rights and protections for all (unthinkable prior to Western contact), plus special rights and protections for recognized classes based on group identity (including self-proclaimed gender), and in Hawaii yet additional rights and privileges for Hawaiians only, including benefits provided by semi-autonomous state agencies and the state’s largest private landowner and wealthiest charity?
Your premise implies “thank goodness the colonists came in to show the natives the proper way of enlightenment! Without us, they’d still be running around in loincloths and swapping women (or men)!!”
Well maybe they LIKED that? Maybe no one asked to be re-programmed? Maybe they didn’t need a bunch of WASPs from the east coast to introduce laws and property boundaries?
I suppose the alii may have enjoyed the social structure of ancient Hawaii more than the makaainana or those who were despised.
Hawaiian society would have changed with or without European or European-American contact. European and European-American societies would have changed with or without Hawaiian contact. Never mind that the worldwide increase in human population made contact between everybody and everybody else almost inevitable. Nor did competition and exploitation on the one hand or cooperation on the other start with Kamehameha or the Europeans or even our species. We can still choose to try to treat one another fairly and right some wrongs here and there. “S what I think.
Your gross extrapolation and crude stereotypes say much more about your own naive worldview than any premise I advanced. Maybe “they” don’t need your condescending presumption of superior enlightenment.
Perhaps things could have turned out much better for all. They certainly could have turned out worse.
At any rate, here we are.
Everyone here is free to run around in loincloths and get their freak on with whichever adults consent, and quite a few do so. In fact, the US legal system not only protects your right to engage in such conduct but can award damages if you are discriminated against as a result or even perceive as much in a workplace.
The end never justifies the means.
Mr. Beagle, you should know if you have an inkling of knowledge about Hawaii’s land laws, that the Mahele (1848) divided Hawaii’s land solely amongst Native Hawaiians. Not one square foot of land was given to a non-Native Hawaiian. It was Native Hawaiians who sold their land to foreigners. Further, it was foreigners who convinced the King Kamehameha III to permit the kanaka maoli to buy (via a commutation fee) their house and taro lots that they’d been occupying.
Hear, hear… this group is committing insurrection and are gaining support throughout the continent from Hawai’ian people bluffed into believing Eric Christian Allen Nelson aka (not my) colonel lilikoi is legit…
Another setback for the intelligent activists who have lobbied all the way to the UN and Hague International Court for Independence and reconciliation. But ya gotta luv the rhetoric that ‘they’ are parroting and obviously 20 years in Prison turned Aka sam into a total lunatic.
Well I say the OFH Army is a sham because my group, the Sovereign Hawaii Independent Treaty Holder Enforcement Army Division Supreme, is the only one that matters. So there!
Oh General ! Thou art quite humorous !! LOL
Even real militaries are a little ridiculous when they get puffed up enough. I’m a little uneasy with how easy it is to find friends and family who are aware of Sam Lilikoi, though.
Do I smell a Sai?
US out of Neverland now!
Deserves a deeper dive Mr. Lind. I encourage you to be impeccable with your words. There are clarifying events just around the corner. The inspiration of Occupied Forces Hawaii Army was the undeniable unfortunate status of the indigenous peoples of Hawai’i. Looking forward to the encapsulated reporting of this news.
How do you know the “inspiration” wasn’t shear kookery and the foolish indulgence of same?
Let’s get on the same page here please….
I prefer to trust the highly educated rather than the highly stoned out so follow HAWAIIANKINGDOM.ORG
There are activists such as myself and those who were arrested on Mauna Kea who in no way, shape or form will verify this Rebel gang anything other than obstinate and obstructionist.
Hmm so what would DOG the bounty hunter Duane Chapman and many pilauticians be classified as? This entire article and comments are DEFAMATION BY CHARACTER! Ian Lind is NO expert but just a blogger who has nothing else better to do but take things out of context and add in his own thoughts of what he perceives and I challenge him and everyone else to this non sense! Get the FACTS before ASS-UMING as for Lindsey Kinney Occupied Forces Hawaii has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with any of the threats Mr. Kinney made, he chose to do what he did on his own free will!!!! I know the FACTS!!! SO DONT GET IT TWISTED!!!
Well apparently the FBI have facts and evidence too.
Newsflash, Facebook, the civil beat and other social media are simply that… a social platform that is open within limits to different views and opinions.
I look forward to hearing the facts but my personal experience with this motley crew has discouraged me from futher interest as the writing is on the wall now and indictments are being issued.
According to the Civil Beat article, Sam Lilikoi’s real name is Eric Nelson. In the 1990s he was convicted for a string of petty robberies. Can we please dig a little deeper? Where was Mr Nelson born and raised? Could he in fact be a mainlander (read: Haole) playing out his all-too-common paramilitary fantasies? Hope I’m not being racist by asking such a question point blank. He looks Caucasian, after all. Does he find a path to feelings of self-importance and puffed up relevance through a military uniform, impressive (fake) documents, and the bogus rank of colonel? If he lived in the South, would he still be fighting for “the lost cause”? I’m just a little dubious. I mean: who is this guy? Maybe I’m completely wrong. This in no way diminishes the very real wrongs that were done in Hawaii to Hawaiians by (mostly) rich Haoles tracing back to America. But linking Mr Nelson to the sovereignty movement, with a straight face, is probably not doing anyone any favors.
Correction. He was not co nvicted of “petty robberies.” These were Class A felonies, some if not all with a weapon. Hence the multiple 20 year sentences.
That said, I haven’t found out much about Eric Christian Allen Nelson, also known as Sam Lilikoi. I did find evidence that he was born on Oahu in 1965. At the time of his birth, his father lived in Haleiwa and was listed in the city directory as a gas station attendant at a Standard station in Haleiwa.
One comment said Eric “Sam” Nelson was in the Waialua High School class of 1983.
Eric Nelson aka Sam Lilikoi was married, and divorced later, apparently after being released from custody.
He has lived at Volcano on the Big Island, and formed Occupied Forces Hawaii Army in 2018.
That’s about all that I’ve found and been able to document.
Thank you. I respect your work.