Honolulu police arrested a man and a woman wanted in connection with a robbery at Ala Moana Center in September that left the victim in a coma, when the couple showed up for an appointment with the man’s probation officer.
Police arrested Francis Aona II, 30, and Paige Nobriga, 25, Thursday at state Circuit Court.
An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Tuesday charging Aona with first-degree robbery and charging both Aona and Nobriga with identity theft and unauthorized possession of personal confidential information.
Circuit Judge Paul B.K. Wong set a $50,000 bail for Aona and $5,000 for Nobriga.
Deputy Prosecutor Scott Spallina told Wong that Aona approached a 67-year-old man in a parking garage at Ala Moana Center at about noon Sept. 24. He said Aona lifted up his shirt revealing what appeared to be the top of a handgun above his waistband.
Spallina said the man walked backward, slipped, fell and hit his head. He said a witness who was in a car eating lunch saw Aona then rifle through the fallen man’s pockets as the man lay unconscious and bleeding from the ears.
The witness told police Aona then fled in a car driven by Nobriga.
Spallina said Aona and Nobriga went to Waianae where Aona attempted to use the 67-year-old man’s credit card at a Hele Gas station and Nobriga attempted to use the the credit card at a Jack-in-the-Box restaurant.
At the time of the Ala Moana Center incident, Aona was wanted on a $20,000 warrant for violating the terms of his probation by missing an Aug. 2 appointment with his probation officer and for failing to report a change in his address, employment or telephone number.
Aona was on probation for first-degree burglary and unauthorized entry into a dwelling in two separate cases. Honolulu police arrested Aona on Sept. 28 near Ala Moana Center. They had not yet identified him as a suspect in the Ala Moana Center incident four days earlier.
Aona admitted violating the terms of his probation, and a state judge ordered him Oct. 29 to serve 33 days in jail, with credit for time he had served since his arrest.
When police Thursday arrested Aona for the charges in the indictment, they also arrested him for habitually operating a vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant. They arrested Nobriga on five contempt traffic warrants, in addition to identity theft and possessing someone else’s confidential personal information.
