Laurence Miller says he was concerned when Michael Miske, then the owner of Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control, began threatening him over the phone in June 2015.  

Miller, a customer of Miske’s fumigation business at the time, had gotten into a dispute with the accused racketeer over a fumigation job. 

Miske, who is now under a 22-count indictment and in the middle of his federal racketeering trial, started threatening Miller on the phone, Miller told jurors Monday. Miske said he was “connected to authorities” and could make Miller’s life “complicated.” So Miller decided to call the police, he testified. 

He requested officers accompany him to Kamaaina Termite where he would address the issues with Miske. But when he arrived, he saw cops exchanging high fives and hugs with Miske and treating him like a friend, Miller said. 

The cops told Miller he was “giving this businessman a hard time” and told him to get lost without taking a report about the threats, Miller said.

HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu said the department knows of no connections between Miske and its personnel.

Miske, who faces a mandatory minimum life sentence if convicted, shook his head from the defense table multiple times during testimony Monday. He is standing trial alone after all of his former co-defendants accepted plea deals. 

His attorneys, Michael Kennedy and Lynn Panagakos, have maintained that he was a trusted businessman and have accused former co-defendants of testifying against him to secure favorable deals.

‘You Could Just Disappear’

Miller, who lives in Texas but was in Hawaii between 2006 and 2017, said he brought his blue Chevrolet van to Kamaaina Termite in 2015 to eradicate a cockroach infestation.

Miller, who said he held multiple jobs at the time, including working as a magician and making miniature surfboard souvenirs, told Miske he wanted the van fumigated, not sprayed, so that it wouldn’t be left with chemical residue. 

But after dropping the van off, he drove by a few times and never saw it wrapped in one of Kamaaina Termite’s signature red-and-black striped fumigation tents.

So when a manager of the company called to let him know the job was finished, he was confused and asked why he hadn’t seen his vehicle tented.

The manager told him that the van had been sprayed, against Miller’s wishes. Miller said he began talking to Miske to find out what chemicals had been used and trying to remedy the situation.

But after a series of calls and emails back and forth, Miske’s tone changed.

Miller said Miske started threatening him, saying that he had used the van to abduct children, and called him a haole.

“He said, ‘You know what, you’re not from Hawaii, you don’t even know how things work here. You could just disappear like that,’” Miller testified. “Now I’m going to disappear over my van and some insecticides?”

Miske told him to come to Kamaaina Termite, where he would “beat his ass,” Miller said.

It wasn’t until after Miller called the Honolulu Police Department to report the threats and request that an officer meet him at the business that he realized he wouldn’t get much help from HPD.

When he walked in to find the officers palling around with Miske, he said one of them told him sternly in an “execution-style-like voice” to turn around and get in his van.

“It feels like I might get shot,” Miller said. “‘Keep going, get your van.’ So I just left.”

Miller said he went across the street, where he saw another officer. He started talking to the officer, who he found out was from the mainland. The two discussed local officers playing favorites with locals, and Miller described what he’d just experienced at Kamaaina Termite.

“He said, ‘Yeah, I totally understand,” Miller said. “‘You should probably report that.’”

Panagakos, who cross-examined Miller, cited previous testimony Miller gave to a grand jury. She said that Miller had told jurors that the officer was speaking generally about relationships with local people and did not specifically say anything about Miske. 

Miller said he could not recall.

Panagakos also asked why Miller had started the dispute with Miske in the first place if he was not an expert in fumigation. 

“You don’t have any background in fumigation but testified that the manager didn’t seem knowledgeable,” she said. 

Assault On A Rival Promoter

Jurors also heard Monday morning from Theresa Schubert, a government witness who said she was assaulted as she tried to shield a rival promoter, Michael Galmiche, as he was beaten outside Miske’s M Nightclub in December 2012. 

She said a group of bouncers attacked Galmiche and threw him to the ground as he tried to pull himself under a nearby vehicle for shelter. Some of the men restrained Galmiche while others hit him, and at one point, Miske came over and joined in, she said. 

“That’s when I started to walk quickly towards the assault that was taking place,” she said. “The gentleman told me, ‘Sister, it’s too late.’”

She told the jury she tried to get between Galmiche and the assailants to protect him. Eventually, first responders arrived and Galmiche was taken away in an ambulance. She said he suffered broken ribs and bruising. 

Schubert and Galmiche filed a civil lawsuit against Miske in 2014, but it was dismissed four years later. 

Schubert said she chose not to refile the suit because she was “tired of nothing happening.” 

“We weren’t getting answers,” she said. “I just had never been through something like this before, and I couldn’t believe that with all the evidence that I felt we had that nothing came of it.” 

Galmiche, 51, who was a promoter for many large events in the state, took the stand in March to testify about the attack. 

Miske faces felony assault charges in state court in connection to the assault on Galmiche, but his state trial is on hold pending the outcome of his federal case. 

As of early March, the court reported the government was 20% to 25% through its case. Monday was the 40th day of testimony.