lfujimoto@mauinews.com
WAILUKU A man who was reportedly frustrated when he couldn’t find his vehicle keys was arrested Wednesday afternoon for allegedly setting his van on fire at a gas station in Kihei.
Reynaldo Onnagan, 45, was charged with second-degree arson and habitual property crime.
He had parked his van near the car wash at Kihei Texaco at 1281 S. Kihei Road in a location that was 40 feet from gas pumps, 50 feet from a propane tank and 7 feet from a gas refuel receptacle, Deputy Prosecutor Brant Yoshimoto said during Onnagan’s initial appearance Thursday in Wailuku District Court.
“He was frustrated he couldn’t find his vehicle keys,” and began blaming employees, Yoshimoto said.
lfujimoto@mauinews.com
WAILUKU A man who said he didn’t know a Makena beach was closed when he went hiking and swimming there last year was acquitted of violating public health emergency rules in the pandemic.
A 2nd Circuit Court jury returned verdicts Feb. 4, also finding Jamal Strom not guilty of failing to abide by posted signs designating a closed area.
Strom, 49, of Lahaina asked for a jury trial after he was issued citations for the offenses May 9.
“Law enforcement has been a little bit overly aggressive towards the people of Maui and should issue more warnings, rather than always charging people with crimes,” Deputy Public Defender David Pullman said after the verdicts were announced.
The Maui News
WAILUKU One traveler was sentenced to a 10-day jail term and another man agreed to return to the Mainland after the two arrived on Maui on flights from Los Angeles without proper COVID-19 tests this week.
Anthony Mendoza, 31, pleaded guilty Thursday to violating emergency proclamation rules.
He arrived at Kahului Airport at about noon Wednesday. Although he had a negative COVID test, it wasn’t from a trusted state testing partner, said Deputy Prosecutor Rodney Char.
“The defendant also did not have a location to quarantine and refused to board a plane back to California,” Char said during a hearing for Mendoza in Wailuku District Court.
The Maui News
WAILUKU Bail was increased to $20,000 for a woman who was allegedly driving a stolen truck when she fled from police Monday.
Supiesi Tongi, 24, of Kihei was charged with unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, leaving the scene of a crash involving damage to a vehicle or property, first-degree resisting an order to stop a motor vehicle, third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, possessing drug paraphernalia and second-degree resisting an order to stop a motor vehicle.
During her initial appearance Wednesday afternoon in Wailuku District Court, she pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The 2012 white Toyota pickup truck was reported stolen at about 11:30 a.m. Monday in the Haiku area, according to police.
In early February, at the beginning of the outbreak of the deadly COVID-19 virus in China, Wang Fang, a local Communist Party secretary, was working around the clock. As an official responsible for 19,000 residents of a neighborhood in the city of Deyang in Sichuan province, Wang spent her days answering questions from concerned citizens via WeChat and figuring out who needed to quarantine.
In a post she published on the Sichuan Provincial Women’s Federation’s official WeChat account, Wang outlined a tightly scheduled 14-hour day. She said the responsibilities she shouldered as a female Party member at the local level outweighed the fears and worries of motherhood.