POLICE BEAT
Girls suspected of stealing purses
Advertiser Staff
Three girls picked the wrong spot to rummage through several stolen purses in Waikiki Monday afternoon. The three were seen going through the purses at about 4:45 p.m. in the women's restroom behind the Waikiki police substation.
Police were notified and the girls, each 14, were detained as they left the bathroom. At the same time the girls were being questioned, multiple beach thefts were being reported to the police.
While police were investigating the beach thefts, they were told about a hotel room burglary and quickly determined that the three girls used a key found in one of the purses stolen from the beach to burglarize the hotel room.
Photographs of all three of the girls showed up on hotel surveillance equipment. The three were released pending further investigation.
Stalled pickup yields 2 suspects
Officers who were sent to check on a stalled pickup truck on the H-1 Freeway early Monday morning wound up arresting the driver on suspicion of vehicle theft and his woman passenger on drug charges.
Responding officers found the truck on the side of the freeway near the Kunia entrance ramp with a man, 32, behind the wheel and a woman, 25, in the passenger seat.
A check of the license plate showed the truck had been reported stolen.
Police were arresting the man when they noticed the woman had what appeared to be narcotics paraphernalia. She was then arrested on suspicion of possession of drug paraphernalia and third-degree promotion of dangerous drugs.
Man, 22, arrested in car theft
A 22-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of car theft Monday morning after he ran a red light in front of a police officer.
The officer was at the intersection of Pi'ikoi and Kina'u streets at about 5:30 a.m. and saw the car go through a red light, police said.
The officer followed the car, ran a check on the license plates and found the car had been reported stolen by a 43-year-old Honolulu woman.
The suspected car thief tried to speed away, then abandoned the car on Stillman Lane in lower Nu'uanu, and ran away.
Puna man pleads guilty to holdups
HILO, Hawai'i — A 37-year-old Puna man pleaded guilty Monday in Hilo Circuit Court to robbing two banks and committing two other holdups in Hilo and Puna last year. William Paul Robinson will be sentenced Nov. 1 on four counts of second-degree robbery.
Police said that on June 1, 2003, he used pepper spray to rob a 45-year-old man in the parking lot of a video store in Hilo.
On June 17, 2003, he tried, but failed, to rob Home Street Bank in Hilo.
Robinson used a mask and a machete to rob the Bank of Hawai'i branch in Waiakea on June 24, 2003, and on July 29, 2003, he robbed the Pahoa Natural Groceries.
In the last three cases, he made his getaway on stolen bicycles, which police recovered after the robberies.
