Puna Councilwoman Eileen O’Hara interrupted a burglary at her Pahoa council office Monday when she found a man making himself a little too comfortable. ADVERTISING Puna Councilwoman Eileen O’Hara interrupted a burglary at her Pahoa council office Monday when she
Puna Councilwoman Eileen O’Hara interrupted a burglary at her Pahoa council office Monday when she found a man making himself a little too comfortable.
She said she went to the office, which was closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in response to a report that a laptop was stolen, and found two men, one of whom was using the toilet with the door open.
“It was not a pretty sight,” O’Hara said.
Both men fled, she said, leaving behind a shirt and stacks of office equipment that they were preparing to haul out.
The men also raided the refrigerator.
O’Hara said she was tipped about a possible break-in when someone alerted her that a laptop belonging to the office was being used at a nearby business. The computer had yet to be recovered Tuesday afternoon.
She said the men claimed to be county workers when approached by a Pahoa resident, and even accepted paperwork as if they were staff.
There were no signs of a forced entry, and O’Hara suspect they had copies of the office’s keys, which did not come with a “do not duplicate” label.
“I was feeling violated,” she said about the ordeal.
“The whole thing was very irritating to me.”
