HILO — A 42-year-old Pahoa woman who pleaded no contest to embezzling almost $90,000 from Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii was ordered Wednesday to make restitution to the statewide medical testing company.
Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura agreed to a deferral of the no-contest plea to first-degree theft entered May 19 by Sharleen Makaneole, also known as Jaynne Avelin, to first-degree theft, a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The deferral means if Makaneole, who has no prior criminal record, makes restitution, stays out of trouble with the law during a 10-year supervision period, and complies with terms of her sentence, her felony conviction will be expunged from her record when the supervision period is completed.
Those terms include restitution of $88,078.42, 18 months in jail with all but 30 days stayed, and completion of 200 hours of community service. Makaneole will be allowed to serve her jail time intermittently, on weekends.
Makaneole, a former accounts payable manager of Clinical Labs’ Hilo office, was indicted by a Hilo grand jury on March 9, 2016.
According to the indictment, Makaneole, “obtained or exerted unauthorized control over … moneys belonging to Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii LLC, by deception, with intent to deprive” the company of the funds.
The document states the embezzlement took place during a five-year period between Jan. 1, 2008, and Feb. 27, 2013.
Normally, the statute of limitations for first-degree theft is three years, which means charges generally cannot be brought more than three years after the alleged offense took place. The indictment document, however, used a section of Hawaii Revised Statutes that allows the statue of limitations to be extended to six years if the matter “involves either fraud or deception … or a breach of fiduciary responsibility” and “the action is being commenced within three years after the discovery of the offense.”
The police report number indicates the theft investigation started in 2013.
According to the company’s website, Clinical Labs was founded in 1971 in Hilo by Dr. Moon S. Park, a pathologist trained at the renowned Mayo Clinic. Today, the company has more than 850 employees and 50-plus locations statewide.
