A 57-year-old retired Hilo police detective recently changed his pleas in connection with cases related to assaulting a county official in 2019 and abusing his wife in 2020.
Ian Lee Loy on Dec. 30 pleaded no contest to one count of harassment, a lesser included offense filed in connection with the assault of Neal Tanaka in July 2019, and one count of third-degree assault, a lesser included offense filed in connection with the May 2020 abuse of his wife, County Councilwoman Sue Lee Loy of Hilo.
Kona Circuit Court Judge Robert D.S. Kim sentenced Ian Lee Loy concurrently to five days in jail with all time suspended for the harassment charge and to 30 days in jail with all time suspended for the assault charge. Lee Loy was also ordered to serve one-year probation and perform 100 hours of community service.
Kim also granted Lee Loy’s motion for a deferred acceptance of his pleas. That means, if Lee Loy compiles with all conditions and terms of the plea agreement, the charges will be expunged from his criminal record.
Lee Loy was charged with second-degree assault, a class C felony, for allegedly attacking Tanaka, the acting deputy chief of the county Department of Public Works Building Division, on July 25, 2019, at the Hilo Lagoon Center. According to the plea documents, Lee Loy struck Tanaka in the right ear, rupturing the man’s eardrum.
Lee Loy retired July 31, 2019, less than a week after the incident.
Months later, Lee Loy was charged with misdemeanor domestic abuse for an attack on his wife on Memorial Day 2020. According to the plea documents, Lee Loy threw a “screen door pet protector grille” at his wife, causing a cut to her right arm.