Police on Jan. 13 located the white 1998 Jeep Wrangler Sahara associated with the Keauhou Store robbery and arrested 41-year-old Roger Rasmussen of Kailua-Kona, according to police. Rasmussen, the vehicle’s registered owner, was charged on Sunday with being an accomplice to robbery and his bail was set at $50,000.
BY CHELSEA JENSEN
WEST HAWAII TODAY
cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com
Big Island police on Saturday charged a 22-year-old Kailua-Kona man with various offenses stemming from two robberies reported earlier this month in the Kona District.
James Kekai Hao was charged with 11 offenses at 11 a.m. in connection with reported robberies on Jan. 5 in the Kaloko Light Industrial Area and Jan. 12 at the Keauhou Store in Holualoa, said Detective Walter Ah Mow.
In connection with the Jan. 5 reported robbery, Hao was charged with first-degree robbery, kidnapping, second-degree theft, fourth-degree criminal property damage and two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, Ah Mow said.
In addition to those charges, Hao faces charges of second-degree robbery, second-degree theft, third-degree assault, second-degree terroristic threatening and third-degree promoting a detrimental drug stemming from the Jan. 12 robbery, he said.
Hao remains held at the Kona police cellblock in lieu of $80,500 bond. An initial court appearance is scheduled for Monday. A search of the state Department of the Attorney General’s criminal record system shows no prior convictions for Hao.
Hao was arrested around 1:45 p.m. Thursday after he fled on foot from an apartment complex on Lunapule Road and hid in bushes several hundred yards away, according to the Hawaii Police Department.
In the first incident, a 63-year-old Kailua-Kona woman reported to police that a man had entered her Kaloko Business Center V store and confronted her with scissors before he took an undisclosed amount of money from the store’s cash register. The man then fled on foot. The woman was not injured, according to police.
One week later, a 34-year-old cashier at the Keauhou Store reported a man had entered the store and forcibly removed an undisclosed amount of cash from the register. The woman suffered minor injuries, but did not require medical treatment, according to police.
The store’s surveillance system captured images of the suspect and another man, who remained outside the store and appeared to be on the lookout, according to police. The two reportedly fled in a white Jeep Wrangler.
Police on Jan. 13 located the white 1998 Jeep Wrangler Sahara associated with the Keauhou Store robbery and arrested 41-year-old Roger Rasmussen of Kailua-Kona, according to police. Rasmussen, the vehicle’s registered owner, was charged on Sunday with being an accomplice to robbery and his bail was set at $50,000.