ICE arrests 24 wanted criminals at Pearl Harbor-Hickam

HONOLULU — Twenty-four civilian contract employees working on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam were arrested for outstanding warrants Wednesday and Thursday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). None of the arrested individuals were in positions that would cripple the military's ability to complete the mission or place the public in danger.

The arrests followed a months-long investigation by HSI, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) aimed at protecting military assets and information from being compromised by unscrupulous individuals. As the largest investigative agency with the Department of Homeland Security, one of HSI's key missions is to secure the nation's critical infrastructure.

"Working with NCIS and OSI, HSI agents vetted the names of more than 10,000 contractors through federal, state and local law enforcement databases," said Wayne Willis, special agent in charge of HSI in Hawaii. "Our checks revealed that dozens individuals had outstanding warrants for a variety of misdemeanor and felony violations."

In making the 24 arrests, agents cleared a total of 38 warrants, three of them for felony violations. Three people are facing extradition to face charges in other jurisdictions: one to California for aggravated assault; one to Maui for assault; and, one to Nevada for writing bad checks.

In addition to HSI, NCIS and OSI, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Honolulu Police Department and the Hawaii Department of Public Safety all provided assistance with this operation.