Newswatch
By Star-Bulletin Staff
BUS DRIVERS RALLY AS TALKS CONTINUE
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Oahu bus drivers took their message to rush-hour commuters on Ward Avenue outside the Blaisdell Center yesterday afternoon as Oahu Transit Services and Hawaii Teamsters Local 996 negotiators met inside for a five-hour bargaining session. No progress was reported in reaching a contract for 1,400 bus drivers and other employees whose contract expired June 30. Union members voted 1,144-51 earlier this week to authorize negotiators to call a strike. Another meeting is set for Thursday. Company officials have proposed reductions in benefits to offset $4.5 million in budget cutbacks by the city administration. The union said Oahu's 240,000 daily bus riders will be given 72-hour notice of a strike.
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffLEEWARD OAHU
Waipahu bank robbery suspect sought by cops
Police are asking for the public's assistance in identifying the male suspect who allegedly robbed the Waipahu branch of Bank of Hawaii yesterday.
According to police, the suspect entered the bank about 2 p.m. and passed a demand note to the teller.
Police said the suspect fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of money and was last seen running in the Waianae direction of Farrington Highway.
The suspect is described as a 30-year-old male, 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighing 200 pounds with a medium build. He has black hair, brown eyes and a mustache. Anyone with information should call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Last 3 of 5 suspects caught in Puna robbery
Big Island police have arrested and charged the final three of five suspects who allegedly robbed a home in Puna last week.According to police, a 16-year-old male was arrested and charged yesterday. Two other suspects, ages 14 and 15, were arrested and charged on Tuesday. Police said two adult suspects were arrested and charged earlier this week.
All five suspects were charged with first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and first-degree terroristic threatening, according to police.
One of the adult suspects, Brandon Jason Enos, 21, turned himself in to police on Monday. He was also charged with two firearms offenses, possession of a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun with a barrel less than 18 inches long and .
The other adult suspect, Waimoku Lum Ho, 19, of Hilo, was arrested July 17 and charged last Friday with additional drug charges and two counts of keeping a weapon in an illegal place.
The robbery occurred on July 17 when the five suspects allegedly forced their way into a Ka'ohe Homestead Road home near Pauoa.
Enos is being held in the Hilo police cellblock in lieu of $100,000 bail.
HONOLULU
Cloudy weather hinders search for missing man
The search for a 19-year-old male missing since Monday will resume this morning, according to fire officials.Rescue crews focused yesterday's search for Daniel Levey in the Palolo Valley area after a dog picked up a human scent near the Waiomao Trail, near Ka'au Crater, fire officials said.
The cloudy weather in the valley has hampered the search; however, rescue crews will continue to search the Palolo Valley area as well as the summit trails near the Pali and Waahila Ridge today.
Levey was last heard from on Monday after he called his family to tell them he was walking down from Maunalani Heights.
BACK TO TOP |
Couple held in alleged van odometer rollback
A Honolulu couple was arrested yesterday in an alleged odometer rollback scheme involving the sale of two Toyota vans this year.Ernest C. Hill, 53, and Dian Creeden, 60, were both indicted June 17 on charges of using false names to acquire and register cars, rolling back the odometers and selling or attempting to sell the cars between April 2 and June 17.
Hill, who also goes by Ernest Hall, Ernest Fields, John Branker and John Clarke, was charged with five counts of second-degree identity theft for using the aliases with the intent to commit second-degree theft.
Creeden, who allegedly goes by Dana Burke and Diane Slater, was charged with three counts of second-degree identity theft for using the names to commit second-degree theft.
Both are also charged with one count of second-degree theft, attempted second-degree theft and two counts of misrepresenting mileage on cars to prospective buyers.
Both face maximum prison terms of 10 years on the identity theft offenses and five years for the thefts.
Misrepresenting mileage to prospective buyers is a misdemeanor that carries penalties of up to one year in jail.
The couple are expected to be arraigned in Circuit Court on Monday. Bail has been set at $150,000 each.
State files tax charge against local dentist
Honolulu dentist Dr. Bryant B. Laporte faces prison time and hefty fines for allegedly not filing his annual general excise tax returns.The state Department of Taxation filed a complaint Wednesday charging Laporte failed to file his tax returns for his dentistry on 11th Avenue for the years 1996 to 2000. Arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 1 at District Court.
The charge for not filing is a misdemeanor, and if convicted, Laporte could be sentenced to jail time of not more than one year for each year and a maximum fine of $25,000 for each year.
Haleiwa man admits mail theft from Navy
A Haleiwa man has pleaded guilty yesterday to obstructing mail delivery and stealing mail that belonged to Navy personnel stationed aboard ships and submarines docked at Pearl Harbor.Karson Kuewa, 33, a civilian clerk at the Pearl Harbor Mail Center, admitted in U.S. District Court to taking about $250 in cash, CDs and DVDs from mail he stole between November 2001 and February 2002 and then tossing them in trash bins.
Assistant Federal Public Defender William Domingo characterized Kuewa's actions as borne of "opportunity and bad decision."
Kuewa faces five years' imprisonment on each of the counts. He will be sentenced May 3.
A good Samaritan discovered more than 150 pieces of mail addressed to Navy personnel in a trash bin in Haleiwa and returned them to the post office, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Hino.
The letters had been addressed to Navy personnel aboard more than 12 submarines and surface ships docked at Pearl Harbor.
Kuewa, currently a baggage screener for the Transportation Safety Administration, was placed on administrative leave June 6.
Kuewa's fingerprints were found on a Christmas card that had been recovered, Hino said.
Honolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
