Police are looking for a 30-year-old man who is wanted on a $20,000 court warrant in connection with a rental scam investigation involving a Hawai'i Kai home on Kaumakani Street.

Ronald Ken Dufrene is being sought in connection with a rental scam in Hawai'i Kai. Crimestoppers photo • Honolulu Police Department

Detective Letha DeCaires said the arrest warrant for Ronald Ken Dufrene was issued Jan. 28 on Maui when he failed to appear in court. Dufrene is under indictment in eight cases including identity theft, theft, burglary, forgery and unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, said DeCaires.

Dufrene fits the description of a man known as David Aaron Taub, Allan Terence Hamlin and Jeff Lansford, who has been posing as a real estate broker and showing advertised rental units on Maui and O'ahu. First-month rent payments are collected from prospects in the scam.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Robert Cravalho at 529-3873 or CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *Crime on cellular.

Boy charged in mugging

A 14-year-old boy was charged yesterday as a juvenile in connection with a Feb. 3 mugging of a 50-year-old custodian at Waipahu Intermediate School.

Detective Peter Boyle said Honolulu police had been looking for the youth when he was arrested yesterday on suspicion of shoplifting. Police said the boy was identified as the one who struck a 50-year-old man with a 2-by-4 feet piece of lumber on Feb. 3.

The youth was charged yesterday with second-degree assault and unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle. His Family Court preliminary hearing was scheduled for today.

Last Friday, police charged a 13-year-old boy with unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle and unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle in connection with the Feb. 3 case. The boy is being held at the Alder Street detention facility, said Boyle.

The victim, whose pickup truck was stolen and then crashed on Feb. 3, suffered a cut to his head and dislocated finger, police said.

HPD helicopter helps in arrests

The Honolulu Police Department's helicopter yesterday was used in the separate arrests of two people on suspicion of auto theft in Leeward O'ahu.

At 10:05 a.m., the helicopter unit checked the license plate of a suspicious vehicle at Hau Bush park and determined it was stolen. The helicopter landed and police officers arrested a 29-year-old man, who attempted to flee on foot.

In the afternoon, the helicopter was used to help find and track down a car that was reported stolen at 3 p.m. in Kapolei. The suspect had eluded police earlier but was observed speeding on Farrington Highway. The driver crashed the car at 6:15 p.m. in Kapolei and was arrested at the scene.