Two men made their initial court appearances Monday for unrelated vehicle theft-related charges.
Hilo District Judge Michael Udovic ordered 25-year-old Jeremy Kalehua Rafael Jr. of Hilo to appear at 2 p.m. Wednesday for a preliminary hearing and maintained his bail at $35,100.
Rafael is charged with first-degree theft and unauthorized control of a stolen vehicle for the theft of a 2016 Ford F-350 toolbox pickup truck reportedly stolen in the early morning hours of April 22 from the county’s Mass Transit baseyard on East Lanikaula Street in Hilo. He’s also charged with another count of unauthorized control of a stolen vehicle for allegedly driving a 1995 Honda Accord stolen April 25 from the Kona Wal-Mart parking lot.
The county truck, valued at more than $70,000, was involved in a spree taking place during a three-day time frame, including at least two hit-and-run collisions and a pair of police pursuits during Merrie Monarch weekend in Hilo. On April 24, witnesses said a man shot out of the truck in Hawaiian Paradise Park. The truck was found set aflame a couple of hours later in a remote corner of Fern Forest subdivision.
A 19-year-old Keaau man, Eric Wilson Jr., was arrested shortly afterward on Enos Road in Mountain View near a Toyota 4Runner SUV that was stolen April 18 in Hilo, police said. He and a suspected accomplice ran into some bushes, but a police tracking dog flushed Wilson out and officers apprehended him and charged him with reckless endangering, first-degree terroristic threatening and three firearms offenses. The accomplice eluded capture at the time.
Police say they are seeking three others in the case: Keanu Krause, a 21-year-old Mountain View man; Tiani Kapeli-Spencer, a 21-year-old Hawaiian Paradise Park woman; and And Jasmine Saragosa-Taoy, a 23-year-old Hawaiian Paradise Park woman.
In the other, unrelated case, Udovic ordered 24-year-old Harvey Chevis Damo Jr. of Hilo to appear at 2 p.m. today for a preliminary hearing and maintained his bail at $66,100.
Damo, whom Deputy Prosecutor Glenn Shiigi said is on probation on a felony drug conviction, is charged with first-degree theft, three counts of unauthorized control of a stolen vehicle, plus reckless driving, promoting a dangerous drug and drug paraphernalia.
According to court documents filed by police, a 20-year-old man told police he met Damo and an unidentified woman late on the night of May 1 at Verna’s Drive Inn in Hilo and drove them to an area near Akaka Falls. The victim alleged the woman took his clothes off, performed a sex act on him, then threw his pants and the car key fob into the back seat. He reportedly told officers Damo then got into the driver’s seat and took off with the alleged victim’s car.
The alleged victim told officers he spotted his car, a red 2016 Honda Civic, at the Kilauea Avenue Shell station, documents state. The man said as he approached the car, Damo sped out of the gas station and almost hit the alleged victim.
On May 4, an off-duty officer saw the Honda at a house on the 1800 block of Kaumana Drive, police said. Documents state Damo was was sleeping in the car with a needle visible in the vehicle containing a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine.
The most severe charge both men face, first-degree theft, is a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment upon conviction.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.