HILO — A 26-year-old Puna man who went on a two-month crime spree last year that included numerous auto thefts, the ramming of two police officers’ vehicles with a stolen car, an armed robbery and using a stolen debit card to make multiple cash withdrawals was sentenced Wednesday to a 10-year prison term.
Under terms of a plea agreement, Lucas Ryan Rivera will have to serve a mandatory minimum term of three years and four months. Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura also ordered Rivera to make $700 restitution to one of his victims and pay $205 to the Crime Victims Compensation Commission.
Rivera pleaded no contest Feb. 12 to second-degree robbery, attempted assault of a police officer, unauthorized entry to a motor vehicle and three counts of unauthorized control of a stolen vehicle. In return for his plea, a first-degree robbery charge, a Class A felony punishable by 20 years in prison, was reduced, and numerous other charges were dropped.
The crimes occurred in a two-month period until Rivera’s arrest May 25 in Punaluu Beach Park in Ka‘u after a manhunt was launched following reports of a white pickup truck — which turned out to be stolen — speeding southbound on Highway 11 and overtaking vehicles between Kurtistown and Volcano.
The robbery occurred May 18 when Rivera punched a Hawaiian Paradise Park man at least twice with brass knuckles while another man pointed a sawed-off shotgun at the victim. A backpack stolen in the robbery contained the debit card Rivera used to make the cash withdrawals.
Referring to Rivera, who’s already serving a five-year sentence in a Kona case, as “no stranger to the criminal justice system,” Deputy Prosecutor Kelden Waltjen asked Nakamura to make the robbery sentence consecutive to the other offenses for a 15-year prison term. Waltjen said his request was “based on the nature and the circumstances of (Rivera’s) crimes, his past criminal history and in order to ensure the safety of the public.”
Asked is he wished to address the court, Rivera said, softly, “I’m sorry, Your Honor, for my actions and sorry for everybody that I caused hurt.”
Nakamura wished Rivera good luck as he was escorted out of the courtroom after sentencing.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.