KAILUA-KONA — Graham Ellis, who made headlines this week after he was picked up by the Department of Homeland Security and subsequently given 45 days to depart the country voluntarily, will leave a few loose ends on Hawaii Island when he returns to England on July 20.
Known for his community outreach through circus arts and performing, Ellis was also a central figure in a dispute that came to a head in 2014 between the Department of Land and Natural Resources and two nonprofit organizations with which Ellis was involved.
Hawaii’s Volcano Circus (HVC) and the Village Green Society (VGS) were found in violation of Hawaii Administrative Rules and ordered by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources to remove several illegal structures — including eight buildings and a horse corral — from a nearly 60-acre parcel of state land south of VGS’s Bellyacres community in Kalapana Seaview Estates.
The organizations were also found to have cut down protected ohia trees on the parcel and were subsequently fined in the amount of $53,743. Ellis served as chairman of HVC as well as corporate secretary for VGS at the time.
Nearly three years later, the matter has not been resolved.
“The (fines) have not been paid,” said Ellis, who no longer serves either entity in any official capacity.
He added that the illegal structures were removed, and that he had torn down two of them himself.
Both HVC and VGS remain active entities, according to the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Community Affairs website.
Tristan Graham — who serves on the Board of Directors and is the corporate secretary for VGS, and who is also the agent on the filing for HVC — is the only common name on the most recent filing documents for the two organizations. He did not return messages Friday as to the intent of either entity to make good on the fines they owe.
“The structures that were in violation were removed by the parties within the 90-day period,” DLNR spokesperson Deborah Ward wrote in an email to WHT Friday. “Follow-up efforts are continuing concerning payment of fines.”
Ward didn’t specify details of the follow-up efforts, if there was a deadline or why nothing’s been paid after three years.
Violations of Hawaii Administrative Rules are civil matters and failure to pay fines can result in the loss of permits or licenses.
“Penalties are set by the board,” Ward said. “We would have to take them back for further action.”
The state could also pursue legal recourse with the Office of the Attorney General.
Ellis maintained this week he never owned nor constructed any of the buildings found to be in non-compliance, adding he never made a profit off of renting them, as some complainants in the case claimed.
He chose not to divulge the names of the parties responsible for the violation but did say that HVC had nothing to do with erecting illegal structures or cutting down protected trees.
“The circus leases a portion of the land and has a legal building on it called S.P.A.C.E., which is permitted,” Ellis said. “That’s where there’s a charter school and there are circus programs. That is all above board and not at all in question as far as illegalities and non-compliance.”
When asked which entity was responsible for which portion of the fines, Ward said that the DLNR “… treat(s) both organizations as one.”
Ellis, 67, last entered the United States via the visa waiver program in 2002, overstaying his allotted time in the country by several years.
He was visited by the Department of Homeland Security June 1 and told he was in violation of United States immigration policy. He turned himself in to the Enforcement and Removal Operations Field Office in Honolulu the following day.
Although the federal government was under no legal obligation to do so, it granted Ellis 45 additional days on Hawaii Island to get his affairs in order and say goodbye to his friends and family. He was diagnosed with leukemia, a type of blood cancer, in April of 2016.
He is married to an American citizen and is a stepfather to four children. Ellis never attempted to gain lawful permanent residence in the United States because he didn’t believe he’d be eligible following a marijuana-related offense in England roughly three decades ago, said his attorney Kevin Block.
That offense has since been expunged from Ellis’ criminal record.
Hawaii Tribune Herald reporter Tom Callis contributed to this report.