Former cop sentenced to 10 years
Porcus Ubiquitous
By Associated Press
HILO, Hawaii (AP) _ A state judge has sentenced a former Big Island
police officer to 10 years in prison for drug offenses and several
other charges.
Sean Kobayashi, who resigned from the Hawaii County Police Department
in 2000, told the judge his addiction to crystal methamphetamine was
to blame for the crimes.
Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura told Kobayashi that he had to take
responsibility for his actions.
Defense attorney David Kuwahara says the former officer struggled with
drug addiction and mental health problems over the past four years,
but for the first 34 years of his life, he was law-abiding.
Prosecutors say Kobayashi was on probation for 21 offenses when he
committed more crimes in 2003, leading to new convictions that
included seven drug counts, bail jumping and resisting arrest.
(Copyright 2004 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.)