Son of noted WWII veteran to stand trial for alleged theft of $200,000
HONOLULU — The son of a celebrated World War II 442nd Regimental Combat Team veteran is scheduled to stand trial in U.S. District Court for allegedly continuing to cash his father's military disability checks more than six years after his father died.
A federal grand jury returned an indictment last month charging Charles T. Takahashi for allegedly stealing $202,662 from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from March 2, 2006, to Aug. 31 this year.
Takahashi pleaded not guilty Tuesday by telephone from his home on Maui. His trial is scheduled for December.
He declined comment following his arraignment.
Takahashi is an officer of the 442nd Maui Veterans Council.
His father, Suguru A. Takahashi, died March 2, 2006. He was 85.
The elder Takahashi was a member of the storied 442nd RCT in WWII and a survivor of the famous rescue of the Texas Lost Battalion in the Vosges Mountains of eastern France.
A larger-than-life-size cut-out of a wartime photograph of Takahashi is one of the displays at the Nisei Veterans Memorial Center in Kahului.
