Police Beat
Advertiser Staff
Maui police hunt prison escapee
WAILUKU, Maui — A man nearing the end of a 20-year sentence for sexually assaulting and beating an elderly Big Island woman was declared a prison escapee yesterday after failing to show up for a work furlough assignment.
Nedrian Kapika, 40, was convicted of manslaughter for the 1981 death of an 84-year-old woman who was attacked in her Waiakea Houselots home.
Maui Community Correctional Center Warden Albert Murashige said Kapika disappeared even though he was facing the possibility of parole later this month, and would have been released in March anyway, when his sentence expired.
The inmate showed up for his first day of work Wednesday at a Wailuku laundry company, but did not report for work yesterday, Murashige said.
Kapika is 5 feet 11, and weighs about 205 pounds. Police advised against approaching the man if spotted. Instead, contact the Maui Police Department at 244-6400 or CrimeStoppers at 242-6966.
Females accused in Maui mail thefts
K?HEI, Maui — Two females were arrested for credit card theft after officers found mail addressed to the residents of 15 Maui Meadows streets in their car, police said yesterday.
Alicia Press, 22, of Kihei was charged with five counts of credit card theft and is being held on $25,000 bail. The other suspect, a 16-year-old, was released to her family.
Maui Police Department Lt. Jon Morioka said patrol officers on Wednesday responded to a call from a Maui Meadows resident indicating that the females were placing fliers in mailboxes and possibly removing mail as well.
Officers who obtained the fliers for a baby-sitting service discovered that the phone numbers provided were disconnected. They later found and arrested the two females on Kupulau Drive, Morioka said.
He said officers will try to contact the owners of the recovered mail.
Kaua'i firefighters rescue hurt hiker
Kaua'i firefighters from the Hanalei station carried a hiker with an injured knee about a mile along the Hanakapi'ai trail, a rescue that took about four hours Wednesday.
The 1:50 p.m. alarm sent crews hiking to a point about a mile between the trail head and the beach, where they found a 46-year-old woman from La Mirada, Calif., splinted her right leg and carried her out on a plastic stretcher, Battalion Chief Bob Kaden said.
Wailoa pavilion fire investigated
Hilo fire investigators suspect a possible electrical origin in a blaze that broke out Wednesday night at the Wailoa State Park pavilion.
A total of eight firefighting units were called to the pavilion shortly before 9 p.m. The fire, which caused an undetermined amount of damage, started in the pavilion bathroom.
