Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star Advertiser. Have fun with this free story!
A 2021 investigation by Mililani High School officials into allegations of theft from the Athletic Booster Club found that then-athlete director Glenn S. Nitta allegedly used the nonprofit’s money to pay $364,709 for personal expenses pay, including gambling in Las Vegas; business, auto, and student loans; credit cards; and a Chinese dinner on New Year’s Eve.
The school has yet to recover some of the money it raised through concession sales at games and other fundraisers.
When the alleged theft was uncovered, the school’s principal, Frederick ASW Murphy, told the Honolulu Police Department in a written statement seen by the Honolulu Star advertiser that school officials received 65 bank statements and 1,235 cashed Mililani High School Athletic Booster Club checks Inc. between September 1, 2015 and January 1, 2021.
Murphy was concerned since the nonprofit “acted as the primary sponsorship organization for all of MHS’s athletic teams.”
“There are many financial commitments to the 30+ individual varsity and junior varsity teams at Mililani High School, and any money that has been withheld for those teams is not accounted for,” Murphy wrote. “I am concerned that Mililani High School Athletic Club, Inc. may have other financial commitments that I am not aware of. The Mililani High School Athletic Booster Club, Inc. was formed to support the student athletes at Mililani High School and fundraisers under this belief. It was not established to provide financial support to any Board member or their family, or to any specific individual.”
Nitta, 75, was indicted Friday and charged with three counts of first and second degree theft and two counts of failure to report income. He surrendered to the state sheriff’s deputies on Monday, posted bail and made his first appearance on Monday.
An anonymous tip to the superintendent of the state Department of Education’s Leilehua-Mililani-Waialua Complex Area alleging the impropriety cited the nonprofit’s work with a shirt company owned by Nitta’s son Galenn, the statement told police.
Nitta served as president of the now-defunct nonprofit school, according to state records and Murphy’s testimony to police. The non-profit organization was founded on August 23, 2001.
The club officers listed were Nitta’s wife, Gaile Nitta, secretary; brother-in-law Phillip Carlos, director; sister-in-law Helen Carlos, Treasurer; daughter Glenelle Nitta, principal and physical education teacher and softball coach at Mililani High School; and son Galenn Nitta, a director.
Two Deputy Principals at Mililani High School conducted an investigation and audio recorded an interview with Nitta confronting him with their findings. The deputy directors “reported many allegations corroborated by AD Nitta’s confessions in the record,” which was turned over to the Honolulu Police Department along with other documents.
After Murphy reviewed her findings, Murphy had janitors lock Nitta out of the athletic director’s office, the gymnasium concession stand area, the stadium concession stand area, the stadium beverage concession area, and the gymnasium storage areas.
Letters were sent to each of the listed nonprofit executives, ordering them to immediately shut down the support club, transfer any remaining funds to the newly formed Mililani High School Athletic Foundation, and “take all further action on behalf of the Mililani High School and Mililani High School discontinue athletics.”
“I have not directed AD Nitta or anyone else to conduct the above transactions,” Murphy told police. “I am overwhelmed by the amount of concern raised by the investigation. I require assistance and do not have the authority to obtain the information nor the expertise to do proper forensic accounting. … I worry this is the tip of the iceberg as Mr Nitta has been the athletic director at Mililani High School since 2001. There could be 20 years of financial mismanagement.”
Murphy told police the money donated to the Mililani Athletic Foundation was just under $2,000, although records show around $21,000 was raised between March 2020 and March 2021.
From March through November 2020, at least $2,000 per month flowed into the now-defunct nonprofit, for a total of $18,000, Murphy said.
Funds from three major fundraisers were “unrecorded,” including about $15,000 from car wash card sales, $2,000 from a “Savers fundraiser,” and more than $500 from a Christmas gift-wrapping event, the school reported to police .
Nitta did not respond to messages from Star Advertisers asking for comment. His attorney, Scott K. Collins, declined to comment.
According to the March 23, 2021 written statement to the Honolulu Police Department, Nitta canceled checks for $188,750 to herself “and family members with the surname ‘Nitta'” between 2015 and 2021.
In 2015, checks totaling $11,500 were issued from the nonprofit’s account to Nitta and/or family members, which the school said the school could not immediately link to official athletic department activities.
That number rose to $35,550 in 2016, $36,900 in 2017, and $38,500 in 2018. The annual total associated with checks made to the Nitta family from the nonprofit’s account fell to $38,300 US dollars in 2019, $27,300 in 2020, and $700 in 2021, the year Nitta retired.
Murphy noted in his statement to police that the checks in 2020 and 2021 “were written during a pandemic” and “all sporting activities” were closed from March 2020 to March 2021.
The amounts paid by the checks were “unusually large, even dollar amounts,” Murphy told HPD. If they were refunds for work done by the Nittas benefiting the nonprofit, they would “usually reflect exact refunds for purchases.”
“Mililani High School Athletic Booster Club, Inc. had a debit card and I’m confused as to why so many refund checks were being written?” Murphy wrote.
Four personal credit card accounts were reimbursed by Nitta between 2015 and 2021 with funds from the nonprofit of $131,593.45, according to the school’s research.
Payments to the four credit card companies started at $9,200 in 2015 before increasing to $30,965.65 in 2016. In 2017, the nonprofit refunded the four accounts $28,746.80; in 2018 $18,141.07; in 2019 $20,854.69; in 2020 $23,335.29; and in 2021 payments dropped to $349.95.
The investigation by school officials also uncovered $23,622 in cash withdrawals, including $11,630 in 2020 when all athletic activities were suspended.
Also, between 2015 and 2021, the nonprofit allegedly made $13,433.19 in loan payments to UBS Financial to cover a business loan that allegedly funded a family business.
“I can think of no reason why subsequent monthly payments to ‘UBS Financial’ should be billed to Mililani High School Athletic Booster Club, Inc.,” Murphy told police.
School officials also flagged 15 transactions between 2015 and 2021 that were billed to the Booster Club, totaling $7,310.36.
Those charges included $3,516 at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas. Three transactions were $1,004 each and took place on November 11, 2017; December 26, 2017; and November 11, 2019. On that November day in 2019, Nitta also allegedly charged $504.50 to the nonprofit’s card at the Tropicana.
On Jan. 26, 2016, Nitta allegedly paid a $452.76 cellphone bill using the nonprofit’s card. On February 8, 2016, a $600 student loan payment was debited to the sponsorship club’s account. Payments to service a GM Financial car loan, golf at Hoakalei Country Club, a debt consolidation loan, seat covers, a cable bill and a Chinese dinner on New Year’s Eve 2020 were also included in the school’s report to police.
Nitta taught at Mililani for 48 years and was on the school’s original staff when the campus opened in 1973, according to state records. He also coached the junior varsity and varsity baseball teams and retired on March 31, 2021.
210323 Police Statement by Director Murphy to HPD by Honolulu Star Advertiser on Scribd
