LIHU’E — A former high school teacher and coach, and a founding member of a comedy group, are being represented by attorneys in the Office of the Public Defender, in unrelated cases. Dawson Carvalho, a former teacher and coach at
LIHU’E — A former high school teacher and coach, and a founding member of a comedy group, are being represented by attorneys in the Office of the Public Defender, in unrelated cases.
Dawson Carvalho, a former teacher and coach at Kapa’a High School, was indicted for second-degree theft by Kaua’i grand jury members.
Carvalho, 35, of Kapa’a, was charged with allegedly taking approximately $1,000 in cash from the school’s athletic department.
On Tuesday, Dec. 27, he was scheduled to be arraigned on the felony charge. However, he informed Fifth Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Watanabe that he would be applying for services from lawyers in the Office of the Public Defender.
Watanabe reset the arraignment for Tuesday, Jan. 10, to give Carvalho time to fill out an application to see if he qualifies for a public defender.
On Thursday, Dec. 29, Edmund Acoba, supervisor in charge of the Office of the Public Defender on Kaua’i, pointed out that Carvalho will be represented by a public defender.
Acoba said Carvalho was told not to comment about the case.
Kapa’a High School Principal Gilmore Youn said that Carvalho was working at the school until 2001. Youn pointed out that Carvalho was a teacher as well as a coach of the school’s football team, and a coach of the school’s junior-varsity basketball team.
According to the Dec. 19 indictment, between Sept. 1 and 17, Carvalho took approximately $1,000 in cash from officials in the athletic department.
Carvalho is free after posting $1,000 bail.
Attorneys in the public defender’s office are also representing a founding member of the comedy group Booga Booga.
Edward Kaahea, 54, of Kapa’a, was charged with unauthorized entry into a Buick Regal with the intent to commit a crime, assault on a female victim, and threatening that same victim with bodily injury, court records show.
Kaahea pleaded not guilty to the charges on Thursday, Dec. 22 through Deputy Public Defender Erick Moon.
Watanabe scheduled a jury trial for Monday, April 3.
Acoba said that Kaahea was also instructed not to comment on the case.
The alleged offenses took place Oct. 13, according to the complaint that lawyers in the county Office of the Prosecuting Attorney filed Nov. 23 against Kaahea.
Kaahea is free after posting $1,100 bail.
Kaahea, along with the late James Grant Benton and the late Rap Reiplinger, started the comedy group Booga Booga in the mid-1970s.
Kaahea appears in Ka Lei Eggs television commercials as part of a new Booga Booga that includes Dave Lancaster.
