08/24/07: Hawaii Island Police Arrest Hilo Man and Charge Him with Property and Drug Offenses

Hawaii Police Department
Criminal Investigation Department I
Lieutenant Zachary Fernando
Phone: (808) 961-2252
Report No.: 24-061064

Media release

On July 4, 2024, at approximately 3:35 p.m., South Hilo patrol officers responded to a reported car break-in in the parking lot of a hotel on Banyan Drive in Hilo.

Officers made contact with the vehicle owner, who reported that the driver’s side window and door handle of his vehicle were damaged. The victim further reported that the interior was ransacked, but nothing appeared to have been stolen. A witness to the incident described the suspect as a Native Hawaiian male who was bareback, barefoot, and wearing black shorts. The suspect left the area on foot in an unknown direction.

Later, at approximately 4:59 p.m., South Hilo patrol officers again responded to a call to the hotel parking lot on Banyan Drive in Hilo for a report of a suspicious group of males loitering on the property.

Officers responding to the call contacted a hotel security officer who reported that he observed a suspicious male group in the hotel parking lot walking around checking the door handles of vehicles to see if they were unlocked. The security officer then observed the male group open the passenger door of a parked, unoccupied and unlocked pickup truck and get into the passenger seat. The male group then began searching the cab of the pickup truck.

The security officer approached the male companion and asked him to leave the area. He called police to report his behavior. The male companion exited the vehicle and fled on foot toward the shore behind the hotel’s pool area.

The owner of the pickup truck was later contacted and informed officers that his vehicle had been entered without permission and that at least one item was missing from inside.

Officers searched the area for the male group, who were found a short time later on the shore behind the hotel. The male group was positively identified as the individual observed entering both pickup trucks. He was identified as 31-year-old Makua Amituanai of Hilo and was arrested without incident on two counts of unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle. Amituanai was transported to the East Hawaii Detention Center for registration, processing and further investigation by detectives.

During the course of the investigation, officers were able to identify a backpack that was in Amituanai’s possession at the time of his arrest. It was removed from a vehicle parked in a parking lot on Keawe Street in Hilo at approximately 11:11 p.m. on July 3, 2024. A search warrant was issued for the backpack, which led to the seizure of the victim’s laptop and personal items, including several identification documents.

On July 6, 2024, after consultation with the District Attorney’s Office, Amituanai was charged with the following offenses:

• First-degree unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle (three counts)
• Habitual property crime (three counts)
• Second degree theft
• Third degree criminal damage
• Unauthorized possession of personal confidential information
• Advertising for a dangerous drug of the third degree

Total bail for Amituanai was set at $183,000.00

Unable to post bail, Amituanai made his first appearance in South Hilo District Court on July 8, 2024.

Police are asking anyone with information related to this investigation to call the police department at the non-emergency number (808) 935-3311, or call Detective Jeremy Kubojiri of the Area I Criminal Investigation Division at (808) 961-2378 or email [email protected].

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