A mental evaluation was ordered Tuesday for a 35-year-old Puna man accused of commandeering without permission a 50-foot sailing catamaran from Kailua Bay.
A mental evaluation was ordered Tuesday for a 35-year-old Puna man accused of commandeering without permission a 50-foot sailing catamaran from Kailua Bay.
Jason Michael Fujioka, of Keaau, appeared before Kona District Court Judge Margaret Masunaga for what was supposed to be a preliminary hearing Tuesday morning when Deputy Public Defender Frederick Macapinlac orally motioned for a mental fitness evaluation of his client.
“After a review of the police reports, I would be moving for a motion for order suspending proceedings,” Macapinlac said.
Prosecutors did not object to the move.
Masunaga subsequently granted the motion for a panel of three doctors to evaluate the man, including Hilo psychiatrist Henry Yang, Oahu psychologist John Compton and the state’s designate. Masunaga will rule on the doctors’ findings during a hearing set for June 17.
Fujioka is charged with first-degree theft, unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle and violating Gov. David Ige’s stay-at-home emergency order after Kalani Nakoa called police to report the Noa Noa sailing catamaran stolen.
The Noa Noa was located traveling in waters off Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole when the vessel’s owner, assisted by another private vessel, were able to stop it in the area of OTEC. The suspect at the helm of the stolen vessel was “detained” and brought to Honokohau Small Boat Harbor.
There, officers with the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) arrested Fujioka.
Bail is set at $1,000 after Masunaga reduced it during Fujioka’s initial appearance Monday.
