WAILUKU – A former SpeediShuttle general manager who used his knowledge of the business to steal more than $13,000 was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison.

“This case is definitely one of very masterful manipulation,” 2nd Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo said in sentencing Daniel Kapahu, 45. “In order to pull off this scheme, these 31 falsified checks, you had to have all the buttons pushed, all the screws turned, all the switches flipped.

“For all of this to have fallen into place, you really had to know the ins and outs of the whole financial system of SpeediShuttle.”

Kapahu had pleaded guilty to using a computer in the commission of a separate felony, a reduced charge of second-degree theft and criminal conspiracy to commit first-degree theft for stealing the money from June 2013 to March 2014 while he was working as general manager of SpeediShuttle.

He enlisted co-defendants Ryan Haole, Joshua Awai and Darien Black, former SpeediShuttle drivers, to cash payroll checks for money they hadn’t earned. Kapahu received a kickback from the cashed checks.

Loo, who previously sentenced Kapahu’s co-defendants, who were placed on probation, said all three described Kapahu as the mastermind of the scheme. “The message was clear you were the one that instigated this whole affair,” she told Kapahu.

In another case, Kapahu had pleaded guilty to second-degree computer fraud, second-degree theft and unauthorized possession of confidential personal information.

In that case, Kapahu admitted using confidential information about Kapalua Resort Association, a SpeediShuttle client, to obtain money from the association to pay his personal credit cards from December 2014 to January 2015, said Deputy Prosecutor Jeffery Temas.

Both Temas and defense attorney Kirstin Hamman recommended probation for Kapahu so he would have a chance to enter the Maui Drug Court program of treatment and supervision.

“He has a long-term addiction to crystal methamphetamine and unfortunately, has never had an opportunity at treatment to match the depth of his addiction,” Hamman said.

She said Kapahu had been doing well as SpeediShuttle manager until he again started using drugs and began stealing. “In 2013, he started using crystal methamphetamine again and history repeated itself,” Hamman said.

She said Drug Court wouldn’t be easy, but he could succeed.

Speaking in court, Kapahu apologized to his co-defendants. He said he had abused his position of trust.

“I don’t just have a problem with crystal methamphetamine,” Kapahu said. “It was my love affair, my damnation. When I used the drugs, there was no wrong, no pain, no nothing.”

Temas questioned why Kapahu didn’t use his intelligence to do more good.

In sentencing Kapahu to prison instead of probation, Judge Loo said Kapahu should have been smart enough to know that he needed help for his addiction with his first conviction in 1991.

“What’s very bothersome to me is we all know you have an addiction,” she told Kapahu. “This drug of choice is your mistress. She’s been haunting you and calling you back. You’ve been succumbing.

“You should have known, had an inkling 26, 27 years ago that you had a problem. You should have done something in your power to get help at some point in your life.”

Loo noted that Kapahu was on probation when he committed his latest offenses.

“These weren’t physical types of crimes,” Loo said. “Financial crimes hurt people in a lot of ways.” She said the $13,582 in restitution that Kapahu was ordered to pay “is a lot for any employer, big or small.”

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.