Escapee hunt leads to Hau'ula

Albert Batalona		Warren Elicker		David Scribner

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Police officers converged at the foot of Hau'ula Loop mountain trail last night as the search for three Halawa prison escapees continued.

Dozens of heavily armed officers reported to the trail after a pig hunter reported seeing men camping in the mountains who behaved suspiciously.

Some of the officers planned to stay in the area late last night, said HPD Lt. Bill Kato. Others will return this morning.

The escapees, Albert Batalona, 27, Warren Elicker, 25, and David Scribner, 20, are considered armed and dangerous. The three broke out of adjoining cells in a high-security prison module between 1:30 and 3:30 a.m. Friday.

The men are suspected of stealing a car from a woman at Stadium Mall shortly after the escape, and abandoning it later at Hau'ula Kai Shopping Center in Windward O'ahu.

Batalona was convicted of the July 1999 robbery of the Kahala branch of American Savings Bank, and of firing an automatic assault rifle at a police officer during the robbery. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole in October 2000.

Elicker was serving a 20-year sentence for a 2001 home-invasion robbery of a Punalu'u couple. He has 13 felony convictions, including robbery, kidnapping, auto theft and burglary.

Scribner has seven felony convictions. He was serving a 10-year sentence for an October 2002 robbery and escape convictions.

Prisons officials would not release details of the escape.