Businesswoman sees new wave of drug crimes

WAILUA HOUSELOTS — Gail Kerley said her life turned upside down after the theft of $250,000 worth of personal goods and cooking equipment from her home here.

Kerley used the cooking gear for her business, “Goin’ Tamales.”

She says everything was taken from her home in early September, and sold a few weeks later at a garage sale.

“Ice,” the street name of the illegal drug crystal methamphetamine, may play a role in the theft, according to Kerley.

She said in an interview with The Garden Island that the Kaua‘i Police Department has monitored the people she claims are involved in the alleged theft of her goods, but haven’t made an arrest because investigators say they need more evidence.

Her theft case, Kerley feels, falls into a new category of crime that she says is sweeping Kaua‘i, for she sees herself as a victim of the crystal methamphetamine epidemic that is rocking Kaua‘i and the rest of Hawai‘i.

The perpetrators of the crime have been investigated by police for drug use, including the use of “ice,” she said. Kaua‘i police officials were not immediately available to comment on the alleged theft.

Kerley said her case illustrates the devastating effect of ice crimes on the public.

“I have never given the people the right to sell my things,” Kerley said.

She is asking anyone who bought her goods from the garage sale of one her neighbors in Wailua Houselots on September 13 and 14 to contact Kaua‘i police Det. Dan Fort at 241-1683.

In the meantime, Kerley said she isn’t going to let the alleged crime thwart her efforts to rebuild her life and to start her new businesses.

She is now homeless, looking for a new place to rent, and lives in a car. Kerley has her dog, and now cooks her tamales using a certified kitchen located in a local restaurant.

As for the portable Mexican food wagon that once housed her business, she said, “I am still going forward. I am not going to let this incident get me down.” “No,” she says, her face stern and eyes wide open.

Kerley said people she thought were her friends took goods that brought balance and meaning to her life — mementos from her late mother, clothes that had been in her family, household appliances and furniture and computer equipment for her business.

Moreover, the theft has betrayed her trust in people, and has wounded her emotionally, spiritually and financially, she said.

“The theft has turned my whole life around. My forward momentum has come to a screeching halt,” Kerley said.

She said she will survive her ordeal, and still plans to push ahead with expanding her tamale business. She now wants to start up two new businesses — a portable wagon dispensing top-quality Mexican food, and a plant rental business.

Kerley said her problems unfolded Sept. 1 after she got word that she was going to be evicted from her rental home in Wailua Houselots.

She said friends came to her rental home “under the guise of wanting to help” her move goods into a 20-foot container on the property, to store them until she found another place to live.

Kerley said she was not feeling well, and welcomed the help. But without her knowledge or authorization, all her goods ended up at the home of her friends in Wailua.

Items that had been part of her life disappeared, she said. They included an extensive cookbook collection, assembled over the past 30 to 40 years; a computer system and a television system; rattan tables, furniture, rugs, lamps and stainless-steel bowls; dog kennels, gold-plated flatware; vacuum cleaners and Christmas ornaments that brought back happy memories of past holiday seasons spent with her family.

Kerley said she also lost prized clothing that had belonged to her, her mother and grandmother. She said she especially cherished hand-knit sweaters and hats that had been given to her by her mother. Also taken was a mink stole that had been worn by her grandmother in France. The item was 70 years old, and was taken care of meticulously, Kerley said.

Kerley grimaced, her voiced cracked, and she shed tears when she talked about the theft of a semi-precious-stone, inlaid globe she bought after the death of her mother, Teresa “Teddy” Kerley, in Walnut Creek, Calif. in 2000.

Her mother suffered from terminal cancer, and had developed a tumor, and Kerley bought the globe in her remembrance.

Kerley loved gardening. and was dismayed to find missing bags of manure, plants and yard equipment.

The theft momentarily took away her ability to make a living selling her tamales, Kerley said. Taken were electric smokers, a Cuisinart blender, dehumidifier, a 20-by-20-foot tent to protect goods, and a vacuum sealer, Kerley said.

Also taken were a rotisserie and a grill. Kerley started “Sassy’s Salsa & Here Today Gone Tamales” in 1996, later changing the name of the business to Goin’ Tamales.

Kerley has over 30 years of experience in the food business, opening Matteos Italian Restaurant in Honolulu and spending 10 years in the food and restaurant industry on O‘ahu.

She spent the last 20 years in the food and restaurant business on Kaua‘i.

In addition to cooking equipment being taken, sealed boxes, a new leather couch, and a workout station valued at $170, were taken from the storage container, Kerley said. She had suffered a back injury in the past, and had counted on using the equipment for rehabilitation.

“Everything out of my house they took, and they were told to put the stuff in the container,” Kerley said.

A friend of Kerley’s saw items being taken out through a window at the rental house at one time, but thought that Kerley was aware of the move, and so didn’t call the police.

According to a police report, Kerley tried to retrieve her belongings, but was unable to get help for that job.

Kerley tried another time to retrieve her goods, and was startled to find that the goods were being sold at a yard sale conducted by the people who she claims took her possessions.

The police report said Kerley noted that the people holding the yard sale were using her 20-by-20-foot tent as a shelter.

“I came across a lady coming out of the driveway (of a house where the yard sale was held), and she had my mother’s black and white tote bags,” Kerley said. “I told her she was buying stolen goods.”

She tried a third time to retrieve her goods before they could be damaged by the rain during a yard sale, the police report said.

As she tried to retrieve a bicycle, Kerley said she was assaulted by one of the people who had initially offered to help store her goods, the report said.

No arrest for assault was made because there were no witnesses other than Kerley and a man.

Staff Writer Lester Chang may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net.