The Hawaiʻi Attorney General has charged an investigator in the Honolulu prosecutor’s office with obstructing his own domestic violence case nearly five months after Civil Beat published a story about his alleged misconduct and the county’s mishandling of it.

Christopher Moon, 52, was arrested in 2024 for allegedly head-butting his then-girlfriend. His employer, Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm’s office, referred the case to the state Attorney General’s office. The case was closed when the girlfriend withdrew her complaint.

Months later, the girlfriend told Alm’s office that Moon had coerced her into recanting her statement, raising the prospect that he had committed criminal witness tampering and obstruction of justice. 

Instead of sending that information to the AG for independent investigation, Alm’s office conducted an internal personnel investigation that failed to include interviews with Moon or his girlfriend and concluded Moon could come back to work.

After five months of paid leave, Moon was reinstated last summer. 

Civil Beat learned of the case through a series of public records requests and published a story about it in early October. Legal experts interviewed for the story said the way Alm’s office handled the case was absurd and the obstruction allegations should’ve been referred to the AG. 

INVESTIGATION: Honolulu Investigator Accused Of Witness Tampering Has Been Reinstated

The AG’s Special Investigation and Prosecution Division secured charges through a grand jury on Friday. Moon was charged with two counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of witness intimidation, two counts of witness tampering and one count of abuse of a family or household member.

Obstruction and witness intimidation are felonies for which Moon faces the potential of up to 15 years in prison and up to $30,000 in fines. The other charges are misdemeanors punishable by up to one year in prison and a $2,000 fine.

”Our justice system depends on victims and witnesses being able to come forward without intimidation, coercion or fear. We recognize the courage that takes,” Attorney General Anne Lopez said in a statement. “This indictment reflects the department’s continued commitment to protecting Hawaiʻi residents and upholding the integrity of our justice system.”

Alexander Silvert, a retired federal public defender who had criticized Alm’s handling of the case, applauded the charges filed by the AG’s office.

“Good for them,” Silvert said. “It’s unfortunate that justice was delayed in the sense that it took an outside agency to bring the charges, but it’s the absolutely correct procedure and right thing to have done.”

Alm’s office did not respond to questions about Moon’s current employment status or whether the office regrets keeping Moon on staff despite having knowledge of his alleged misconduct. 

In a statement, Alm noted his office fully cooperated with the AG’s probe.

“We hold our employees to the highest standards of integrity and accountability,” he said. “When allegations arise involving a member of our Department, it is critical that they are reviewed independently and handled transparently. Maintaining public trust in the justice system is paramount, and no one is above the law.”

Civil Beat contacted Moon for comment but did not receive a response. In an interview with Civil Beat last year, he denied being abusive. He said his now ex-girlfriend’s claims were “completely false or twisted out of context” but declined to elaborate. Civil Beat does not identify victims of domestic violence.

Employee Asked Girlfriend For ‘Damage Control’

Moon has worked for the prosecutor’s office since 2019.

The charges relate to a relationship that began in 2023, according to investigative records Civil Beat obtained from Alm’s office. It was tumultuous from the start, with police called to respond to the couple’s fights on a dozen occasions from 2023 to 2025

On May 30, 2024, neighbors called 911 to report a woman screaming for help, according to the police report. The woman, whom officers observed with a swollen lip, told police Moon had head-butted her in the mouth. Moon claimed the woman was “losing her mind again,” the report states. 

When an officer spoke to the woman alone, she told them she believed nothing would be done because of her partner’s job with the prosecutor’s office.

Moon was arrested, even though the woman said she didn’t want to press charges. When the case file was sent to the prosecuting attorney, it was referred to the AG to avoid a conflict of interest. 

Days later, the woman formally withdrew her complaint with the AG and stated she would not testify in the case — effectively ending the matter. But months later, she texted Moon’s boss, supervisory investigator Joseph Bonin, saying Moon “needs to be exposed.”  

She shared a screenshot of an exchange, supposedly between Moon and the chief of investigations in the prosecutor’s office. In the text, the chief appears to comfort Moon and floats the idea of the women losing custody of her child.

“Right now it’s just words, and we know it’s bullshit because I haven’t heard anything from her as she says, but these are serious threats she is making to hurt you,” the supposed supervisor says. “If it goes any further, I’ll have no choice but to contact child services myself. With what you have, it displays serious mental illness and that (her child) is being endangered.” 

Moon acknowledged in an interview with Civil Beat last year that the exchange was fake. He claimed it wasn’t what it seemed but declined to provide an explanation.

Those messages now form the basis for three of the criminal charges Moon is facing, court records show.

In another screenshot the woman shared with Bonin, Moon appears to ask her to email his chief an apology, emphasizing the need for “damage control now.”

Moon told Civil Beat those messages were taken out of context, but again declined to explain them.

Case Closed: City Blames Paperwork Issue

Alm’s office said it launched an employee misconduct investigation but records show it failed to interview the key witnesses: the girlfriend and Moon.

Investigator Cedric Lee quickly lost the woman’s trust when he contacted her child’s phone instead of hers, text messages obtained by Civil Beat show, and he failed to respond to several of the woman’s messages in which she tried to arrange a meeting.

Christine Denton, special counsel to Alm, said the woman declined to provide a written statement because she was worried the office couldn’t keep her safe.

Meanwhile, the union was pushing back, according to Denton. The Hawaiʻi Government Employees Association was asking which policy Moon had violated.

It turned out the office didn’t have standard human resources paperwork on file for Moon in which he pledged not to commit “acts of misconduct” and “shall not violate any law or any department policy, rule or procedure.”

In the absence of proof that Moon had agreed to behave legally and professionally, the case was closed. Moon had never been interviewed about the allegations, which were labeled “unsubstantiated.” 

Denton told Civil Beat last year that the office felt a need to be “mindful of due process toward the employee as well as making sure that we were trying to conduct a fair investigation for everyone.”

Silvert said the county’s investigation of its own employee represented a clear conflict of interest and was “entirely inappropriate.”

“They’re in the business of prosecuting cases,” he said. “They should know a crime when they see one.”