A Kauai woman has received a five-year prison sentence for a crime spree that included two assaults, one of them on a police officer.
Leslie Palama, 30, of Kalaheo, pleaded no contest in July to charges stemming from six criminal cases, the Garden Island reported.
In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed to drop all but three of seven felonies and recommended a sentence of six months.
But Circuit Chief Judge Randal Valenciano dismissed that recommendation Thursday. Each of the three felonies carried a penalty of up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines, and her misdemeanors could have added another three years.
Valenciano had the option to order the sentences served consecutively, but did not.
Court records show Palama assaulted a woman in November 2017, broke into a vehicle and stole an iPhone a month later, stole a credit card and got caught with methamphetamine the day after that, and assaulted a police officer in January 2018 — in all, 10 offenses in less than three months.
In 2008, Palama was convicted of driving with a suspended or revoked license and cited four times for not having car insurance. She was found guilty of theft that year as well, a crime she would repeat three more times.
She was also convicted of assault in 2013.
Police seek driver in ramming case in Hilo
Police are looking for a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck they say was used to ram an officer’s car.
On Thursday, an officer spotted a white truck with no hood and blacked-out windows on Kaumana Drive in Hilo, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported. When the officer went to investigate, the truck backed into the officer’s vehicle, pulled forward, and smashed into the car again before speeding off.
The officer was not in the vehicle, which police said is a total loss.
At about 11:20 a.m. Friday, police spotted the same truck, which had been painted black, in the Puainako Town Center parking lot. When officers approached, the truck sped off toward Keaau on Highway 11, police said.
They identified the driver as a 24-year-old Puna woman who has outstanding arrest warrants.