Officer arrested for wire fraud

HONOLULU — Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Friday arrested Maulia LaBarre, 34, a resident of Honolulu, and a Honolulu Police Department (HPD) officer, after a federal grand jury returned an indictment on Wednesday charging him with five counts of honest services wire fraud. LaBarre will have an initial appearance and arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard L. Puglisi on Monday.

Florence T. Nakakuni, United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said in a press release that according to the indictment, LaBarre breached his duty of honesty and loyalty to the citizens of the City and County of Honolulu and the HPD to act in the public’s interest and not for his own illicit enrichment. The indictment alleges that, between January and March 2016, LaBarre solicited, and agreed to accept, sex from an individual by promising to arrange to have an arresting officer not appear to testify in a pending case involving prostitution charges against that individual. LaBarre is alleged to have sent wire communications in the form of text messages for the purpose of executing his criminal scheme.

If convicted of the charges in the indictment, LaBarre faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each count. The charges in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The arrest and charges resulted from a joint investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Investigations Division of the Department of the Attorney General for the State of Hawaii. Homeland Security Investigations also provided assistance during the joint investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Nammar.