Police arrested two men on burglary charges Wednesday after responding to reports of suspicious activity in Haiku neighborhoods.
One suspect, Tomasi Caones-Paahana, 21, of Makawao also was charged with assaulting two police officers who were arresting him on a warrant and all-points bulletin, police said. Caones-Paahana was being held in lieu of $56,000 bail Friday afternoon on charges of first-degree burglary, first-degree theft, two counts of first-degree assault on a police officer, first-degree escape and resisting arrest.
The other suspect, David Leialoha Jr., 20, of Kahului, was being held in lieu of $20,000 bail on a first-degree burglary charge.
The burglary was reported at a residence on South Holokai Road. The resident had left home at 9 a.m., returning at 6:45 p.m. to find the home ransacked and a laptop computer stolen, police said.
When the resident went to talk with her neighbors, she heard police had been in the neighborhood that afternoon.
Responding to a report of a suspicious man knocking on doors in Haiku, police stopped a white sport utility vehicle on Holokai Road at 1:39 p.m. that Leialoha was driving.
Caones-Paahana, who was a passenger in the vehicle, gave a fake name to the first officer on scene. But a second officer who arrived recognized Caones-Paahana and knew he was being sought on the warrant and all-points bulletin.
When the officers told Caones-Paahana he was under arrest, he struggled with and punched the officers, police said. Caones-Paahana ran.
The officers suffered bruises and scrapes but weren't seriously injured, police said.
Caones-Paahana was apprehended after police responded to a report at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday of a suspicious man on Kaupakalua Road in Haiku. Officers didn't find Caones-Paahana there but arrested him about 15 minutes later when another caller reported suspicious activity on Hoomalolo Street, police said.
The theft charge against Caones-Paahana stems from the early-morning Jan. 15 burglary of Maui Master Jewelers on Baldwin Avenue in Makawao. On Jan. 20, patrol officers investigating suspicious activity at Maui Marketplace in Kahului found Caones-Paahana sleeping in a car. Officers obtained consent to search a backpack in the car, finding some of the jewelry stolen in the break-in, police said. The jewelry recovered was valued at $52,000, police said.
According to court records, Caones-Paahana was placed under court supervision last October after pleading no contest to first- and second-degree unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle and two counts of third-degree theft. He was given a chance to keep the convictions off his record if he followed court requirements for five years.
Leialoha is awaiting sentencing after he pleaded no contest to charges of first-degree burglary, second-degree theft and fourth-degree criminal property damage.
