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Police, Fire, Courts



By Star-Bulletin staff

HONOLULU

Kalihi scammer poses as mechanic

Police are warning the public about a scam in Kalihi involving a man who asks for help to pay for a tow.

In the latest incident, a man who claimed to be a mechanic for a well-known transmission shop entered a business and asked to use the phone.

The man spoke loudly enough for the staff to hear him purportedly explain to his boss that the company vehicle needed to be towed but he was $20 short, police said. The man hung up and asked the staff if anyone wanted to make an easy $20. The man stated that whoever loaned him $20 would get reimbursed $40 by his boss. The man took the $20 and never came back, police said.

The man is described in his mid- to late 30s, with almost shoulder-length straight black hair and a very tanned complexion, 5 feet 6 inches tall, with wide shoulders and a muscular build, wearing a T-shirt, dark jeans, dark work shoes and "looking like a mechanic." Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME on a cell phone.

Suspect smashes car windows, flees

Honolulu police were looking for a man who allegedly broke car windows with a machete and almost ran down two people with a stolen car early yesterday along Kaaahi Street in Iwilei.

The suspect, said to be in his 30s, was seen trying to take something from a car owned by a 38-year-old man about 1:30 a.m. The owner of the car confronted the suspect, and the two began fighting, police said.

The suspect then allegedly went over to a black Mercury Cougar and grabbed a machete. Witnesses said the suspect broke the windows on the victim's car with the machete, then went over to another car where a 41-year-old man and his girlfriend, 30, were sleeping inside. Police said the suspect broke the rear window on that car.

The suspect then drove off in the Mercury, scraping a utility pole and almost hitting the first male victim and the 30-year-old female.

LEEWARD OAHU

Federal fugitive arrested in robbery

Jay Padayao: The suspect, 29 years old, was wanted on a firearm indictment

Patrol officers arrested a federal fugitive early yesterday morning as he was allegedly trying to rob a Pearl City home.

Jay Kauhane Padayao, 29, was arrested for kidnapping, robbery, burglary and drug and firearm offenses at an address on Hoohulu Street about 3:15 a.m. Padayao has prior convictions for assault, burglary, theft and escape and was wanted on a federal firearm indictment from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

A 32-year-old woman who was with Padayao at the scene was also arrested yesterday.

Police are looking for another fugitive, Rockford Matsuura. In 2003 he was featured by CrimeStoppers after escaping from the Laumaka Work Furlough Center with another inmate.