HILO — A 35-year-old Pahoa man accused of attacking a homeless man in a wheelchair last month is now charged with another attack on a homeless man that allegedly occurred last year.
According to court records, Christopher John Mohrlang was charged Thursday with third-degree assault for “knowingly and recklessly causing bodily injury to another person,” named in the charging document as Kevin Jenkins. The complaint, by penal summons, said the alleged assault occurred Sept. 23 in Puna.
A police spokeswoman said in an email Monday that Mohrlang, also known as Chris Mohr, allegedly punched and kicked the victim, whom she described as a 61-year-old man with no permanent address at the time of the alleged assault. She wrote that the alleged offense occurred on the “15-2900 block of Pahoa Village Road” and there is “no indication of treatment required or of serious injuries.”
“I can tell you it occurred in the same area as the other (assault), the one with the homeless individual and the dog, in the same general area,” Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Lee said Monday.
The police spokeswoman said the 2015 assault was forwarded to prosecutors in February. Lee said “it just happened to come up now” during what he described as “general screening.”
Lee said that although both assault cases are misdemeanors, they qualify for jury trials because the offenses include bodily injury. Lee declined to comment when asked if prosecutors are looking at other possible assault charges being lodged against Mohrlang.
Mohrlang is scheduled to appear for the alleged assault on Jenkins at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 1 in Hilo District Court.
He’s also scheduled to appear in Hilo District Court at 1:30 p.m. July 21 on two counts of third-degree assault for the alleged attack on John Hartley, a 57-year-old man who lives in Pahoa but has no permanent address.
Hartley, who has an amputated right leg, told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald he was asleep in his wheelchair at about 1:30 a.m. June 7 when Mohrlang allegedly poured ice water on him, sprayed him with mace and punched him. At least part of the attack was caught on surveillance video, although it’s difficult to tell from the video who the attacker is. Hartley identified Mohrlang as the assailant, police said.
A Honolulu television news outlet aired a telephone call from a man they identified as “Chris Mohr” who identified himself as owner of the nearby Lava Shack bar. They later retracted the identification and said Mohr was the bar’s manager.
The man in the call said the establishment is “very ashamed and disappointed on the way things were handled.”
“It’s our top priority to keep this establishment and the places around us safe and clean. I do hope this shines a light on what it’s been like to be a small business owner in Pahoa and be next to the Pahoa museum,” the man in the call said.
The museum has provided space in the back of its establishment for homeless individuals.
A woman who answered the phone Monday afternoon at Lava Shack said she’d never heard of “Chris Mohr” or Christopher Mohrlang.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
