Posted on: Thursday, September 9, 2004

Farmers say slaying linked to thefts of Kahuku crops

By Karen Blakeman and Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writers

KAHUKU — Farmers in Kahuku talked yesterday about losing generators, golf carts, weed trimmers, compressors, and even fertilizer to thieves.

In sharing their plight, they said they did not feel the need to take the law into their own hands, but a fatal shooting that may have been prompted by an agricultural theft highlights an increasingly frustrating effort to protect crops and property.

Several farmers said they were not surprised by Tuesday's shooting, which police say arose from a confrontation between a farmer and a man who he believed was stealing from him.

"I think sooner or later someone would get shot because stealing is too much," said Thomas Law, owner of Law Tieng Farms in Kahuku. Law said farmers had experienced a string of thefts recently, including produce and equipment.

They say they report the crimes to police but, to their knowledge, nothing gets returned and no arrests are made.

Police say many agricultural thefts are particularly challenging to investigate.

Acres upon acres of banana trees, for example, are extremely difficult for police to stake out, said Lt. John McCarthy, who heads the Windward police district's burglary and theft detail. State laws do not require most farm equipment — from tractors to generators — to be licensed, he said. Stolen bags of fertilizer or produce can be even more difficult to identify. Police do not track the number of farm thefts as a separate category of crime.

The Kahuku shooting occurred in Malaekahana Valley, where an estimated 20 to 30 families farm relatively small plots, five acres and up, in the area along Malaekahana Road. They grow papaya, basil, ginger and other crops in the open fields surrounded by fences or hedges that do little to deter thieves.

Khamxath Baccam, a 48-year-old farmer, remains in police custody after his arrest Tuesday on suspicion of second-degree murder in the shotgun slaying of Marcelino Pacheco Jr., police records show.

Baccam, who is originally from Laos, walked into the Wahiawa Police Station at about 1 p.m. Tuesday and told police that he had killed a man with a shotgun, Lt. Bill Kato said.

Baccam's wife told police earlier in the day that she found the body in a pool of blood between 9:20 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. while walking to work on her family's farm lot, Kato said.

Baccam told investigators he was driving toward a shack on his farm lot when he saw a man run from the storage shed holding a bag, Kato said. Baccam continued toward the shack, saw that some of his equipment was missing and drove his van back toward where he last saw the man, according to Kato. He found the bag lying in the road with the equipment inside, Kato said.

At that point, Pacheco appeared and "some sort of confrontation took place." What was said, or exactly who said what, "is not clear at this point," Kato said.

Moments later, Pacheco was shot.

Kato said police have not located the shotgun.

Thefts are "a big issue with farmers statewide," said Alan Takemoto, executive director of the Hawai'i Farm Bureau Federation, a nonprofit organization that advocates for farmers. "I'm not surprised it's come down to this because there is a lot of frustration out there."

Takemoto estimates that agricultural theft and the vandalism that often accompanies it amount to losses of about $1 million annually statewide.

Tuesday's shooting took place on a road leading to various farm lots and not on Baccam's lot, Kato said.

At his home in Wahiawa, neighbors described the Baccam family as friendly but not sociable. They leave in the morning and come home in the evening, said Mary Manewa, 56, a neighbor on Palm Street. Manewa said she couldn't believe the news of the shooting and was shocked to hear about it.

"It's, like, impossible," Manewa said. "It's the last thing you would think of that man."

The family has lived in the apartment complex at the end of Palm Street for about 10 years, said Fuli Fgafa, 30. They have three sons.

The family would not talk to a reporter, but Baccam's wife, who declined to give her name, did say that she was confused about the incident.

Angie Santos, the sister of the man who was shot, said yesterday that he had had a drug problem for years.

Born and raised in Kahuku, Pacheco, 38, had a promising life; he was a happy-go-lucky man with a good job as a welder at Pearl Harbor. Then he started using drugs, and became addicted to methamphetamine, Santos said.

Court records show Pacheco had a history of crystal methamphetamine use, and police said they suspect that he was stealing crops and equipment from the Kahuku-area farmers to feed a drug habit.

Court records show Pacheco had 21 prior arrests and an ice problem when he was indicted for car theft, and later for burglary, in 2001.

Bail for Pacheco, then 35, was set at $50,000 for the two felony charges, but he was later placed on supervised release under the sponsorship of his father, who was then 92.

Pacheco decided to go to drug court and worked, with the close support of his parents, to overcome his problems, his sister said. But his father died of a stroke, and less than two months before his graduation from drug court, his mother died of a brain aneurysm.

He graduated from the program in April 2003 and, as a result, the burglary and auto theft charges against him were dismissed the following month.

Santos, who moved to Michigan five years ago, said relatives in Hawai'i would call to tell her that her brother was headed for trouble again — he was leaving home often and staying away for days at a time. They suspected that his drug problem was getting worse.

"I spoke to him two weeks ago," she said. "I told him, 'It is time for you to move here; it is time for you to get away.' "

He refused to go to Michigan, she said.

Staff writer David Waite contributed to this report. Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com; and Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.