Kona leads island in auto thefts

HILO — Kona led Hawaii Island in auto thefts in 2016 and is on track to do so this year, as well, according to data from the Hawaii Police Department.

Meanwhile, South Hilo had the highest number of vehicle break-ins on the Big Island by a wide margin last year, and numbers for the first four months of 2017 indicate the district likely will reclaim that dubious distinction.

There were 161 reports of unauthorized control of a motor vehicle in 2016 in Kona, which for police purposes includes the North Kona and South Kona districts. That’s 95 more than the 66 reported in the South Hilo District for the year and almost half of the 340 unauthorized control reports islandwide in 2016. The only month Kona was in single digits for unauthorized control reports was November, with nine. Ninety-five of those reports were in the first six months of the year, with the highest number, 22, occurring in May.

Kona again has the highest number of unauthorized control reports through April 2017, 35, but that pales in comparison to the 60 reported in the first four months last year. South Hilo has the second-highest numbers of unauthorized control reports, 30, through April — up slightly from the 27 tallied through the first four months of last year.

Hawaii doesn’t have an auto theft law, per se, but police and prosecutors like the unauthorized control of a motor vehicle law because it doesn’t require proof by law enforcement that a person in possession of or driving a stolen vehicle actually committed the actual larceny.

There was what police described as a “rash of auto thefts” in January, with 18 reports of unauthorized control in Kona, nine in Hilo and five in Puna. The unauthorized control numbers in Kona have decreased dramatically since, perhaps because of the arrests of four East Hawaii men police say were a part of an auto theft ring: Kahekili Krause, 18, of Mountain View; Shannon Navor, 33, of Kurtistown; Austin Fernandez, 22, of Volcano; and Kahee Manuwai, 26, of Hilo.

Allegations involve the brazen theft of brand-new cars, mostly high-performance sport sedans used for illegal street racing, from dealership lots in Hilo and Kona.

“Sometimes when we experience spikes in certain crimes, it can be attributed to certain individuals acting in concert with one another,” Lt. Sherry Bird, commander of the Kona Criminal Investigations Section, said in a Friday email. “Although I don’t have the arrest stats readily available, it’s possible the drops in (unauthorized control and unauthorized entry) numbers may be attributed to recent arrests. I would also add that more community awareness, where the public is aware and on the lookout for, and are reporting these activities to police, which then hopefully deters and prevents such activities.”

Bird said she and her predecessor, Lt. Gerald Wike, who recently was transferred to Kona Juvenile Aid Section, “agree that we cannot speculate why there’d be a larger amount of vehicle thefts in Kona versus Hilo.”

Reports of unauthorized entry to a motor vehicle, police parlance for auto break-ins, have risen considerably in South Hilo this year compared with 2016, if the January through April numbers are more than a temporary uptick.

There were 195 unauthorized entry reports for South Hilo in 2016, followed by Kona with 168 and Puna with 97. Through April, there have been 93 unauthorized entry reports in South Hilo. In comparison, Puna, which has experienced an overall spike in property crimes this year, had 33 for the period — the same number reported for South Hilo in April alone, and more than twice the unauthorized entry reports Puna had at the same time last year, 14.

Hilo’s 93 unauthorized entry reports through April are more than twice the number reported for the same period last year, 41.

Unauthorized control and unauthorized entry of motor vehicles are Class C felonies punishable by up to five years in prison upon conviction.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.