Police looking for pair of men
Hawaii Island police are searching for a 46-year-old Hilo man who was reported missing.
Michael Bigger was last heard from around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. He is described as 5-feet-9-inches tall, weighing 155 pounds with blue eyes, brown hair and a medium complexion.
He may be in the Hilo or Puna area.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the Hawaii Police Department’s nonemergency line at 935-3311.
Police are also looking for Tomasz Mieczkowski, a 38-year-old who resides in the Kona district.
He is wanted on a “no-bail” warrant and two additional warrants totaling $5,000.
Mieczkowski is described as 6-feet-1-inches in height, approximately 265 pounds, blonde hair, with multiple tattoos on his left inner forearm, right forearm, left upper arm and left side of his chest.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Officer Pedro Cacho Jr. at (808) 747-3061 or (808) 326-4646.
19 nabbed for suspected DUI
Hawaii Island police arrested 19 motorists for suspected drunken driving between March 12 and Sunday. Two of those drivers were involved in traffic crashes.
So far this year, there have been 233 DUI arrests compared with 274 during the same period last year, a decrease of 15 percent, according to the Hawaii Police Department.
Kona officers arrested seven drivers, Puna officers five and South Hilo officers three. Officers in South Kohala arrested two motorists while their counterparts in the Hamakua and Ka‘u arrested one driver in each district.
Through Monday, there have been seven deaths on Big Island public roads compared with five fatalities at this time last last year, an increase of 40 percent.
Hawaii set for toy store closures
HONOLULU — Hawaii’s Toys R Us stores will close May 14, according to filings from the state Department of Labor.
The state’s 48 Toys R Us employees have been given termination notices, Hawaii News Now reported last week. The company operates stores on Maui and Oahu only.
The chain has announced that it plans to close or sell all of its U.S. stores in coming months.
Officials have not said when stores will begin to liquidate and Toys R Us hasn’t said if all stores nationwide will close at the same time.
There are four Toys R Us or Babies R Us stores in Hawaii. The 60-year-old brand has 800 locations nationwide and more than 30,000 employees.
Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy protection in September and announced a major restructuring deal in January amid slumping sales.
The U.S. branch of Toys R Us had hoped to find a buyer or work out a debt restructuring deal. And while a buyer might still come through, hopes of that happening are dimming, Hawaii News Now reported.
Shoppers were saddened by the news of the closure, including resident Joy Kaopuiki.
“I just told my son the news today as well and he was really sad as well ‘cause we come here all the time and he has a lot of fun,” Kaopuiki said. “Just to see the different kinds of toys. His reaction was, ‘Oh no … where we gonna get all our toys now?’”
Concert scam ruling stands
HONOLULU — A judge is not allowing a North Carolina man to take back his guilty plea to scamming the University of Hawaii out of $200,000 for a Stevie Wonder concert that never happened.
U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi ruled Monday on Marc Hubbard’s request to withdraw his 2016 guilty plea, where he admitted to lying about his ability to secure Wonder for a fundraising concert.
She says Hubbard doesn’t meet any of the exemptions in law for withdrawing a guilty plea.
Hubbard says he was coerced into pleading guilty because he was afraid prosecutors would reveal his cooperation against East Coast mobsters. Prosecutors deny his was coerced and say his cooperation was useless.
Hubbard is already serving more than six years for a concert investment scam in Pennsylvania.