KAILUA-KONA — A 30-year-old Big Island man will spend five years in federal prison for robbing the American Savings Bank branch in Kealakekua, spurring a day-long manhunt earlier this year.
KAILUA-KONA — A 30-year-old Big Island man will spend five years in federal prison for robbing the American Savings Bank branch in Kealakekua, spurring a day-long manhunt earlier this year.
Russell R. Monlux, 30, was sentenced to 60 months imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release — of which six months must be served within a residential re-entry center — by U.S. District Court Judge Susan Oki Mollway on Sept. 11 in Honolulu. Monlux was also ordered to pay restitution of $6,650 to American Savings Bank and a $100 fine.
Federal Public Defender Alex Silvert, Monlux’s attorney, told West Hawaii Today on Thursday that his client does not plan to appeal the sentence as it came in below the sentencing guideline range. Monlux pleaded guilty to the single federal count of bank robbery by force or violence after he had been found fit to stand trial following a competency and insanity evaluation.
According to U.S. Code, the charge carried a potential fine and/or a term of federal imprisonment not to exceed 20 years. There was no mandatory minimum sentence to be imposed, rather a starting range provided by sentencing guidelines is around six to seven years, which could be adjusted as the court saw fit.
Silvert said he had sought a three-year prison sentence for his client while the government asked for 75 months. He declined comment on the case’s outcome, but noted he “argued in length” about his client’s “mental health history and how he had just been released from the state hospital.”
After the hearing, Monlux was taken into the custody of the United States Marshal. According to a check of the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator, Monlux was still at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu as of Thursday afternoon.
Monlux entered the American Savings Bank branch in Kealakekua around 3 p.m. Jan. 3 and passed a threatening note that demanded money and said he had a gun, according to an affidavit in support of the federal charges filed shortly after the incident. That note was also signed by Monlux and matched the signature on his driver’s license.
The teller gave him $400 in bait bills, which are marked, before Monlux fled and solicited a ride to the Kailua-Kona Walmart in exchange for $50. That person who transported him would later identify Monlux in a police photo lineup.
The next day, after receiving a tip from the public, police and federal agents arrested Monlux inside the north terminal of Kona International Airport.
According to an affidavit filed shortly after his arrest, Monlux had spent time at the Kona Community Hospital psychiatric ward before being released the morning of Jan. 3. The affidavit also states that surveillance video from the hospital on Dec. 30 showed Monlux wearing an identical T-shirt to the one worn during the robbery. The hospital is located about 1/2 mile north of the bank branch off Mamalahoa Highway.
Prior to the January incident, Monlux had been arrested in June 2016 for allegedly passing a handwritten bomb threat to a teller at the Bank of Hawaii Branch inside the Hilo Safeway store, after which he was charged with two counts of terroristic threatening. Those charges were dropped after a judge found him unfit to proceed based on a evaluation by the state Department of Health. Monlux was ordered committed into DOH custody for a period not to exceed 120 days.
According to a check of criminal records, Monlux prior to the January incident had six convictions/acquittals on his record dating to 2007; all misdemeanors.