Officer fired in connection with Kealoha scandal will get his job back ― and back pay

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A Honolulu police officer who was fired after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor in connection with the Kealoha mailbox scandal is getting his job back.

An arbitrator made the decision to reinstate Danny Sellers to the force, Hawaii News Now has learned.

Sellers was sentenced to one year probation after admitting to violating confidential information rules when he illegally provided Katherine Kealoha, then a high-ranking deputy city prosecutor, with investigative information on the reported theft of her mailbox in 2013.

Kealoha was convicted of setting up a relative for that mailbox theft because of a family feud. She is serving a 13-year sentence in a California federal prison. Her estranged husband, ex-Police Chief Louis Kealoha, is in a federal prison in Oregon. He was sentenced to seven years behind bars.

Sellers was the only one in the case to be convicted of a misdemeanor crime and was not part of the conspiracy to set up the Kealoha relative. He testified against the couple in their trial.

He was fighting to keep his job in 2019 after HPD notified him that he was going to be fired.

Sellers had argued that other officers who have done the same thing ― leaked confidential information ― were only suspended. He also pointed out that Kealoha was a prosecutor at the time, and that investigative information was often shared between agencies.

An arbitrator agreed, upholding a suspension for Sellers of six months of leave without pay.

He is expected to get back pay for the remaining time ― more than a year.

Hawaii News Now did reach out to Sellers’ attorney, Richard Sing, who declined to comment.

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