Cruise ship employee found

Big Island firefighters recovered the body of a swimmer missing since Tuesday.

Firefighters doing a search aboard the Hawaii County Fire Department's helicopter spotted the body floating on the surface of the Wailuku River at about 9:30 a.m. yesterday, said Battalion Chief Aaron Arbles.

The body was in what is known as the second pond of the Boiling Pots area, Arbles said.

That is about 100 yards downstream from where Ryan J. Ritzel was last seen swimming.

His co-workers said they last saw Ritzel, 24, a cruise ship employee from California, trying to swim across the river in the Boiling Pots area near Peepee Falls Road.

Big Island house fire injures 2

A Big Island fire injured two people and destroyed a home yesterday in Naalehu.

The fire started about 2:30 p.m. and destroyed the home of a family of four, causing about $150,000 in damage, a Big Island fire official said.

Firefighters brought the fire under control before 3 p.m. The father was taken to the hospital for minor burns and the child was hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

Fire investigators are looking into the fire's cause.

A Big Island fire injured two people and destroyed a home yesterday in Naalehu.

The fire started about 2:30 p.m. and destroyed the home of a family of four, causing about $150,000 in damage, a Big Island fire official said.

Firefighters brought the fire under control before 3 p.m. The father was taken to the hospital for minor burns and the child was hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

Fire investigators are looking into the fire's cause.

Helicopter rescues hiker

A fire helicopter rescued a man who injured his ankle yesterday while hiking at Maunawili Falls.

The man, who was in his mid-20s to early 30s, was with a group of four, said Honolulu Fire Capt. Earle Kealoha in an e-mail.

Fire rescuers hiked up the trail and carried the hiker to a clearing. A fire helicopter picked him up and dropped him off at Maunawili Park, where he was transferred to paramedics at about 11:40 a.m.

Man charged in kidnapping

A 46-year-old Kalihi man was charged over the weekend with kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl.

Jhonderick Borja Agpaoa of Ashford Street has been charged with kidnapping, two counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of third-degree sexual assault and promoting pornography to a minor.

His bail was set at $250,000.

He was arrested at his home Friday after the girl reported the alleged incident.

Maui man dies in 4-car crash

A 96-year-old Pukalani man died and three others were injured yesterday in a four-vehicle pileup on Haleakala Highway in Kahului. Maui police identified the victim as Masami Nikaido.

The crash occurred at about 10:20 a.m. when a 47-year-old Kahului woman driving a Ford van east on Haleakala near Keahua Junction rear-ended Nikaido's Toyota Echo.

Nikaido's car hit the back of a Nissan Sentra, which rear-ended a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck. All four drivers were taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center.

Nikaido was Maui's sixth traffic fatality this year, compared with seven at the same time last year.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Judge rejects plea bargain in assault case

WAILUKU » A Maui judge has rejected a plea agreement as too lenient and sentenced a man who hit his wife with a board to five years in prison.

Benjamin Matias, 57, had pleaded no contest to second- degree assault under an agreement that called for him to receive one year in prison and five years' probation.

Circuit Judge Joel August said that he could not in good conscience follow the plea agreement, calling Matias “;an alcoholic with extreme violent tendencies.”; August noted Matias was drunk when he hit his wife in October, just five days after the expiration of a temporary restraining order she had obtained against him in 2008.

The judge said he concluded Matias “;has absolutely no insight into the nature of his behavior and the nature of his disease—and clearly has no social skills to modify that behavior.”;

The judge also said Matias has previous convictions for drunken driving in 1998 and 2003, abuse in 1995 and terroristic threatening in 1998.