Faulty outlet is blamed for Chinatown fire
A Chinatown fire that caused moderate damage to portions of Indigo Restaurant on Tuesday night was caused by an electrical malfunction in a wall outlet.
The Fire Department said the fire started accidentally in an employee lounge at Indigo, 1121 Nuuanu Ave. When firefighters arrived, they found heavy smoke from the Nuuanu Avenue and Bethel Street sides of the building. The fire had broken through the ceiling and had begun to spread through the attic. It was extinguished at 12:38 a.m.
Fifty-five firefighters fought the blaze and were able to confine it to the lounge, an adjacent storage room and an office on the second floor. There was no damage to the first-floor restaurant. Damage is estimated at $100,000 to the structure and contents.
Man arrested after city bus’ path blocked
An 18-year-old man was arrested Wednesday night when he stood in front of a city bus and refused to move.
Police said the incident occurred at 10 p.m. in Waipahu.
Roger Morton, president of Oahu Transit Services, said the suspect got off the bus at Pupuhi Street after arguing with another passenger, "then started banging on the side of the bus." The suspect then stood in front of the bus, blocking its path. The bus driver then called for help.
The suspect was arrested on suspicion of interfering with the operator of a public transit vehicle.
WCCC prison guard indicted in sexual assault on inmate
A state prison guard is facing charges that he sexually assaulted an inmate at the Women’s Community Correctional Center in Kailua.
An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Thursday charging Irwin Ah-Hoy with two counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of third-degree sexual assault.
Deputy Prosecutor Keith Seto said Irwin directed other staff at WCCC to send the inmate to him, at which point he forced her into a staff-only bathroom and sexually assaulted her. Seto said DNA evidence recovered from the inmate matched that of Ah-Hoy. He said Ah-Hoy also grabbed her in a sexual manner.
Ah-Hoy continues to be employed by the state Department of Public Safety while the department’s internal affairs office and Honolulu police investigate the allegations, said department spokeswoman Toni Schwartz.
Prisoner pleads not guilty to escaping from custody
Teddy Munet, scheduled to go to trial in October on a murder charge for allegedly killing a friend last year, faces a court date the week of May 28 on new charges stemming from his nearly 12-hour escape on Feb. 20.
Before Circuit Judge Richard Perkins, Munet entered a plea of not guilty on second-degree escape and second-degree robbery charges. His bail for those charges is $250,000. His case will be heard by Circuit Judge Glenn Kim.
On Feb. 20, Munet escaped from the custody of Oahu Community Correctional Center guards just before a morning a pretrial hearing on charges that he allegedly killed William Fallau in 2012. Police captured Munet nearly 12 hours later, several blocks away on Waimanu Street in Kakaako.
This was Munet’s first court appearance on the escape charge. He missed two earlier arraignment sessions.
Convict accused in killing to be tried for murder in May
The 32-year-old inmate accused of killing a fellow prisoner at Oahu Community Correctional Center entered a plea of not guilty Thursday morning.
Joseph Tui Jr., 32 is charged with first-degree murder in the March 9 beating death of Cyrl Chung in an OCCC holding cell.
Tui, who is being held at OCCC, entered his not guilty plea via a closed-circuit hookup from the Kalihi prison facility.
Circuit Judge Richard Perkins set his trial date for the week of May 28. His trial judge will be Michael Wilson.
The charge carries a mandatory life prison term without the possibility of parole, the state’s harshest penalty, because the killing happened while Tui was imprisoned.
Grand jury indicts Californians over promotion of prostitution
Two men from California accused of trafficking a woman to Oahu to work as a prostitute are in custody facing prostitution and threatening charges.
An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Thursday charging Raymond D. Doyle and Toye E. Welburn each with promoting prostitution and terroristic threatening.
Circuit Judge Richard Perkins maintained the $250,000 bail for each man despite a request from the state to double the men’s bail.
Deputy Prosecutor Keith Seto told Perkins the two men brought the woman to Oahu on March 15 and arranged all of her "dates." To discourage the woman from fleeing, Seto said the men showed her violent videos on a laptop computer.
One of the dates turned out to be with an undercover police officer. When the officer tried to assist the woman, the defendants thought the officer was trying to steal the woman from them and threatened the officer, Seto said.
Suspect shot by police officer charged with assault attempt
The officer who shot and wounded a man who police say rushed the officer with a metal stake in Kalihi Valley earlier this month barely had enough time to get out of his car and draw his weapon, Deputy Prosecutor Keith Seto said in state court Thursday.
An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Thursday charging the man who was shot, 35-year-old Ralph Riveira Jr., with attempted assault and attempted assault of a law enforcement officer.
Seto said the officer was responding to a call about an argument in front of Riveira’s mother’s home. He said Riveira confronted the officer, threatened to stab him and then rushed at him from 15 feet away. The officer fired when Riveira was six feet away from him, Seto said.
The Honolulu Police Department placed the officer, a 24-year veteran assigned to the Kalihi station, on administrative leave following the shooting while its internal affairs investigated the incident. An HPD spokeswoman said Thursday that the officer has returned to duty.
