Whether the Honolulu prosecutor’s office investigator fudged his mileage reimbursements or not is still an open question.
At best, the county employee is the victim of confusing office policies, according to case records. At worst, he is allegedly guilty of the theft of $12,018.29.
In either case, taxpayers have lost out on so much more.
While the prosecutor’s office has pursued the case, more than three and a half years have gone by. The investigator has been on paid administrative leave since October 2020, collecting a paycheck while under orders not to do his job.
To date, the county’s effort to right an alleged wrong of $12,000 has cost taxpayers more than $230,000, a sum that continues to grow by the day.
The investigator is still on paid leave.
The case is one of Hawaii’s most egregious examples of so-called “stay away” pay, the practice of giving employees time off from work while they are investigated for alleged misconduct. But it’s far from the only one.
Some 350 employees across more than two dozen state and county agencies were put on paid leave due to investigations into suspected wrongdoing from 2020 through 2023, according to data Civil Beat obtained via public records requests. Civil Beat’s analysis is based on responses received from agencies at various points throughout last year, providing a partial snapshot of the scope of this spending throughout the state.
