Home invasion suspects in court
Home invasion suspects in court
The suspects in a Friday night Puna home invasion and an unrelated home burglary Wednesday in Hilo made their initial court appearances Monday.
Hilo District Judge Barbara Takase ordered 31-year-old Dustin James Jose and 31-year-old Jack A. Vaughn of Kailua-Kona to appear today at 2 p.m. for a preliminary hearing.
Jose and Vaughn are accused breaking into a 30th Avenue home in Hawaiian Paradise Park at about 9:30 p.m. Friday and stealing a woman’s purse with about $75 in contents, and a child’s backpack with clothes.
Both are charged with robbery, two counts of burglary and three counts of assault.
Both men remain in custody — Jose in lieu of $60,000 bail and Vaughn in lieu of $12,000 bail — at Hawaii Community Correctional Center.
According to court documents, 33-year-old Claudine Prados told police that three masked men drove a dark-colored truck into her yard on 30th Avenue in Hawaiian Paradise Park and entered her home without permission, struck her numerous times about the head, and backed her into a set of jalousie windows that broke, causing a laceration to her left hand.
Prados’ boyfriend and their 9-year-old son were also attacked, documents state. The 41-year-old man suffered a fractured left eye socket and the boy sustained lacerations to a forearm and shin.
A third suspect has not been arrested.
In an unrelated case, a 29-year-old Hilo man also has a preliminary hearing scheduled for 2 p.m. today in Hilo District Court.
According to court documents filed by police, Justin Edison Fergerstrom was caught by a home video surveillance system entering the garage of his next-door neighbor on South Wilder Road numerous times in the span of a few hours. Fergerstrom allegedly took a chain saw, an automotive lift kit, two fishing reels and a pickup truck cowl. The stolen items were valued at about $1,700.
He’s charged with unauthorized entry to a motor vehicle and three counts of burglary.
On Monday, Takase denied a request for supervised release for Fergerstrom and maintained his bail at $85,000. He remains in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center.
Fergerstrom has an unrelated felony theft case set for trial July 22.
Police seek three men Police are seeking several people on outstanding warrants.
Police are asking for help locating Boaz David Johnson, 22. His girlfriend’s body was found in the ocean off the Kalapana coast on May 28. The medical examiner ruled the 25-year-old woman, Brittany Jane Royal, died from strangulation. Johnson is described as Caucasian, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing about 150 pounds with a slim build and a fair complexion. He was last seen unshaven and with medium-length brown hair. He has a tattoo of the upper body of a horse near the right side of his abdomen. He is considered dangerous.
Police are also seeking Arthur Clayton, 51, of Keaau, who is wanted on a $40,000 bench warrant related to drug charges. He is also wanted for questioning in a theft investigation. He is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds with brown eyes and a bald or shaved head. He has a tattoo of a lion on his right shoulder.
Tyler Taylor, 18, is wanted on a Grand Jury indictment related to a robbery at Kolekole Beach Park Feb. 6. Taylor is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds with short black hair. He has no permanent address but frequents the Puna District.
Police ask that anyone with information about any of these men call the Police Department’s nonemergency line at 935-3311 or Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona. All Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential. Crime Stoppers does not record phone calls or subscribe to caller ID.
Teen found
Police said Ashley Hancock, 16, was located in good health Monday morning.
She had peviously been reported missing.
Man killed on Highway 19
Highway 19 was closed near Kolekole Bridge on Sunday after a naked man was struck by a pickup truck.
The man, identified in the police log as 35-year-old Ryan Laudan, was reportedly hitting vehicles traveling on the highway near Kolekole Beach Park moments before.
Police received reports of a “nude pedestrian in the middle of the highway” who was “hitting and kicking cars” at 7:11 p.m., according to a police spokeswoman.
Officers were en route when Laudan was hit by the truck.
The collision caused the highway to be closed for about 30 minutes, police said.
Laudan of Kalaoa was transported to Hilo Medical Center before being airlifted to Queen’s Medical Center in stable but serious condition.
His status was unclear Monday.
The spokeswoman said it’s not known why he was nude and in the highway or if he was camping at the park.
The incident is being treated as a negligent injury case.
Police seek robbery suspects
Big Island police are looking for two men suspected of robbing two women in a reported home invasion in Mountain View.
At about 10:38 p.m. Friday, police received a report from a 62-year-old Mountain View woman that two unknown masked armed men forcibly entered her home.
“No suspects are identified; no one is in custody,” Lt. Greg Esteban of the police Criminal Investigations Section said Monday.
The victim reported that she and her 49-year-old female roommate were bound before both suspects ransacked the house. Both victims were then threatened with weapons by the suspects, and the 49-year-old was reportedly struck with a weapon.
A 40-year-old Mountain View man who was also at the home reported that he was accosted by the two suspects, who brandished weapons while threatening him before striking him with a weapon.
The 49-year-old woman and 40-year-old man refused treatment for minor injuries. The 62-year-old woman was uninjured.
The first suspect was described as a Caucasian male, about 6 feet tall with a thin build, tan complexion and hazel eyes. He was wearing dark jeans, a dark long-sleeved shirt or sweatshirt, a ski mask or tactical type of mask, and a bandana covering his lower facial area.
The second suspect was described as a Caucasian male, about 5 feet 6 inches tall with a thin build and fair complexion. He was wearing dark jeans, a dark long-sleeved shirt or sweatshirt, and a ski cap. He also had a bandana covering the lower portion of his face.
Esteban said this home invasion doesn’t appear to be related to another home invasion that occurred about an hour earlier in the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision in Puna.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Detective Fetuutuunai Amuimuia at 961-2278 or famuimuia@co.hawaii.hi.us.
Mental fitness exam allowed in Molokai murder case
WAILUKU, Maui — A mental fitness evaluation will determine if a Molokai man accused of murdering his girlfriend is competent to stand trial.
Marlin Lavoie has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges in the March shooting death of 24-year-old Malia Kahalewai, the mother of their four children. She died of a single gunshot wound to her chest.
Defense attorney Chris Dunn said Lavoie was suffering from a physical or mental disease, disorder or defect at the time of the shooting. Dunn said his client lacks the mental capacity to understand the court proceedings against him.
By local and wire sources