KAILUA-KONA — The 57-year-old Kona man charged in connection with an Oct. 10 standoff with police likely won’t be posting bail anytime soon after a Circuit Court judge Tuesday increased 50-fold his bail in an unrelated firearms case.
Richard Denis Gorloff is now being held in lieu of $1 million after Judge Robert D.S. Kim upped the bail amount from $20,000 during a hearing for a return on a warrant of arrest in connection with a prior reckless endangering and firearms case dating to early July.
The judge didn’t expand on his ordering of the bail increase, which was significantly higher than the $20,000 prosecutors had sought. Counsel for Gorloff had sought a decrease.
Kim will take up a subsequent motion by prosecutors to revoke bail altogether in the case on Oct. 28. An updated bail study was also ordered.
Gorloff was free after posting bail in the July firearms case when he allegedly threatened to kill his ex-wife, and then, after police arrived, barricaded himself inside a Kona Coast View subdivision home on Oct. 10 setting off a nearly six-hour standoff police that ended without incident.
The Kailua-Kona man was charged Monday afternoon with first-degree terroristic threatening, second-degree terroristic threatening and violating an order of protection in connection with the incident. The charges were filed hours after Gorloff was released around 12:30 p.m. that day from Kona Community Hospital, where he’d been receiving undisclosed treatment since being taken into custody.
On Tuesday, prior to appearing before Kim, Gorloff was brought to District Court for his initial appearance on charges related to the Oct. 10 incident. During the hearing, Judge Cynthia Tai set a preliminary hearing for today and maintained cash bail at $14,000.
Police were sent to Gorloff’s Ahulani Street home shortly before 9 a.m. Oct. 10 after receiving a report from the man’s ex-wife that he’d threatened to kill her. Gorloff refused to exit his residence and reportedly told officers that if they came any closer, he would blow up the residence.
The department stated that officers also observed Gorloff with a small propane tank and a 5-gallon gas can that was open and filled with an unknown liquid. He also appeared to be carrying a propane torch that was unlit, and a flint striker. The smell of propane was present in the air.
Neighboring homes were evacuated and the department’s Special Response and Crisis Negotiation teams were deployed. Gorloff surrendered about six hours later.
According to court records, Gorloff at the time of the Oct. 10 incident was free on $20,000 bail in connection with the reckless endangering case that involved the discharge of firearms that occurred back in July. Prosecutors motioned to revoke bail the following day, and the warrant was issued.
He faces charges of first-degree reckless endangering; first-degree criminal property damage; two counts ownership of a firearm and/or ammunition when prohibited because of a protective or restraining order; two counts failure to register a firearm and five counts violating a protective order in the case, which indicates the alleged offenses occurred July 3-5.
Gorloff, according to the complaint, intentionally fired a firearm recklessly placing a minor in danger of death or serious bodily injury and damaged a pickup truck and/or window “by means other than fire” on July 3.
Kim also set a new date to rule on Gorloff’s fitness to proceed with the July case for December. He had been slated to make a ruling on doctor’s reports on Oct. 17, but Gorloff was hospitalized at the time.
