HILO — The state’s Human Resources Department knew Ethan Ferguson had been fired by the Honolulu Police Department but hired him as a Department of Land and Natural Resources law enforcement officer, according to emails between a senator and the state’s human resources chief.
The 39-year-old Ferguson is charged with sexually assaulting a minor girl on a beach in the Keaukaha area of Hilo on Jan. 1. Police say the girl told them her assailant was in uniform.
The HR department says it was informed Ferguson had been dismissed from HPD but wasn’t given details about his termination.
HPD, however, says it told the state that Ferguson — who reportedly falsified reports and lied to superiors about transporting a juvenile female runaway — shouldn’t be hired.
State Sen. Will Espero, a Leeward Oahu Democrat and the legislative body’s vice president, is investigating why Ferguson was hired as a Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) officer on June 27, 2013, after being stripped of his badge earlier that year by Hawaii’s largest law enforcement agency.
Espero said the hiring system for state law enforcement officers appeared to have a “serious flaw.” He added he’ll introduce a bill to require the state Attorney General to maintain a database of state and county law enforcement officers fired from their jobs or forced to resign due to criminal activity or misconduct.
He also made email inquiries to a number of officials seeking information, including DLNR Director Suzanne Case, state Human Resources Development Director James Nishimoto and HPD brass.
James Nishimoto, the state’s human resources head, responded Wednesday to Espero’s email. Nishmoto said a criminal history check turned up no convictions. He also confirmed the department had been told by HPD Ferguson had been terminated. According to Nishimoto’s email, Ferguson had been truthful about his dismissal by HPD.
“Other references subsequent to the Honolulu Police Department, confirmed satisfactory work performance by the individual,” Nishimoto said.
Nishimoto told Espero his department “shares your concern that our law enforcement applicant screening, selection protocols, and practices must help to ensure the hiring of staff suitable to serve and protect our families.”
An email to Espero from Honolulu Deputy Police Chief Marie McCauley said the department “specifically disclosed that he had been discharged from our department and that we did not recommend him for hire by the state. This information was provided to the State of Hawaii, Department of Human Resources, in response to their inquiry in April 2013.
“We also provided our contact information should state DHR have any further questions. To the best of my knowledge, no one ever contacted us for more information. We believed at that time that he had not been hired based on the information we had provided.”
Nishimoto told Espero his department is implementing steps to tighten the hiring process.
Case, who was in Hilo on Friday, said she responded to Espero, as well, but couldn’t comment further, except to say Ferguson is on paid administrative leave while DLNR conducts an internal investigation.
A written statement Wednesday by Case said DLNR is “taking a look at all aspects of our hiring processes, particularly for law enforcement positions, to identify areas where heightened scrutiny can be added to ensure we have the best candidates possible for available positions.”
“We expect all our officers and staff to operate with the highest integrity. Anything less is simply unacceptable, as well as unfair to the public and to DLNR,” Case said.
Ferguson, who is charged with two counts of second-degree sex assault and three counts of fourth-degree sex assault, is free on $13,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in Hilo District Court on Feb. 2.
Tribune-Herald reporter Tom Callis contributed to this story.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.