Even as Assistant Chief Paul Kealoha was telling Hawaii County Police Commissioners his department had two suspects in custody for a series of burglaries in Holualoa, someone was breaking into Theron Ogata’s home.
Even as Assistant Chief Paul Kealoha was telling Hawaii County Police Commissioners his department had two suspects in custody for a series of burglaries in Holualoa, someone was breaking into Theron Ogata’s home.
Ogata said someone took $15,000 to $20,000 worth of jewelry and hunting equipment from his house midday Friday. He reported the burglary to police, as well as the possible identity of the person behind the crime.
“They’re just cold-hearted lowlifes,” Ogata said, giving his opinion of the type of people who burglarize a home and steal such items. The stolen jewelry included several pieces with significant sentimental value.
His father discovered the burglary, he said, expressing gratitude the person or people who stole the items were not at the house when his father arrived.
The two suspects Kealoha reported were in custody were arrested March 1. Keahola told commissioners they were suspected in five burglaries, he said Friday.
Kona Patrol Capt. Richard Sherlock said the department recorded four burglaries in Holualoa so far this month and six burglaries for the area in March. The department’s community police unit and a special enforcement unit have increased patrols and offered residents tips on how to make their homes less attractive targets in efforts to decrease the rise in burglaries.
Those tips include cleaning up the property, clearing away brush and other items that might provide a burglar a way to enter the property unseen. Sherlock also advised people to walk around their homes and think about how they would get in if they locked their keys inside. Where a resident would break in, a burglar likely would, too, he said.
Residents, in the form of an active Neighborhood Watch or even just neighbors keeping an eye on each others’ property, can be a good deterrent for burglaries. And they can provide the most valuable information to investigators after a burglary, Sherlock said.
“If they see something, (they should) give us a call,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of crimes are solved by eyewitness statements.”
Most of the burglaries are also related to drug crimes, Sherlock said, so if officers have an idea who perpetrated the crime, they may end up arresting those people for unrelated charges. That indirect approach can cause the number of burglaries to drop, he said.
“If you pick them up and burglaries go down, you’re intuition was correct,” he said.
This month, burglars seem to be taking jewelry and electronics, including iPhones and iPod touches. The burglars don’t keep those items on hand for long, Sherlock said, and recovery of the stolen items is rare.
“It usually goes straight to the drug dealer,” Sherlock said. “The supplier has his own way of getting rid of it.”
Another enforcement technique the department uses is increasing traffic checks in an area.
“People who don’t want to be seen up there don’t want to get stopped up there,” he said.
Madeline Jose’s coffee farm was one of the earlier homes to be burglarized in a recent uptick in home invasion crimes. She said someone broke into a car on her property, then broke three locks off a storeroom door and stole several hundred dollars worth of coffee and a pole saw.
She’s heard nothing from police about the case since she filed her report in mid-March.
“I’m a little perturbed,” she said.