POLICE BEAT
Officer injured in arrest attempt
Advertiser Staff
An attempted murder investigation was opened yesterday morning after a police officer was injured while trying to arrest a man suspected of driving a stolen car in the Salt Lake area.
Police yesterday said the suspect was still at large.
The officer, 43, used his own subsidized Dodge Durango to force the suspected stolen car, a 1999 Lexus, to pull over at about 1:45 a.m. on Peltier Avenue close to where it intersects with Salt Lake Boulevard.
When the officer approached the Lexus, the driver gunned the motor and struck the officer. The suspected stolen car wound up wedged between the officer's SUV and a guard rail. The driver got out and ran.
The officer was taken to The Queen's Medical Center, where he was treated for a deep cut on one of his legs and released.
NAVY OFFICER GUILTY OF SEX CHARGES
Navy Lt. Tobias Chappell, a sailor assigned to the Pearl Harbor-based destroyer USS Chung Hoon, was found guilty yesterday of having sex with three subordinate women — one from his prior command and two from his current command, the Navy reported.
The incidents occurred between September of 2004 and April of 2005, the Navy said.
In addition to that charge, Chappell was found guilty of cruelty and maltreatment of two subordinates, wrongful appropriation, obstructing justice and concealing a serious offense committed by someone else, said Lt. Barbara Mertz, Navy Region Hawai'i pubic affairs officer.
A charge of making a false statement was dismissed, she added.
Chappell was awaiting sentencing late yesterday, but faces a maximum of 16 1/2 years confinement, said Mertz.
TWO ARRESTED IN IDENTITY THEFT CASE
A man and a woman accused of multiple counts of fraud and identity theft were arrested this week and will appear before a federal magistrate on Monday.
Jeanine Santiago, 36, and Brendan Sylva, 31, were arrested Tuesday in Kailua by members of the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force. They were wanted in connection with an identity theft case involving a Big Island couple.
Santiago and Sylva were indicted in October on four counts of bank fraud, three counts of wire fraud, two counts of access device fraud, two counts of mail fraud and one count each of mail theft and aggravated identity theft. They face a maximum 30 years in prison if convicted.
The couple is accused of burglarizing a Big Island home and using financial information of the homeowners to write checks from checking and retirement accounts. Santiago and Sylva also opened credit card accounts and made thousands of dollars worth of purchases, the U.S. Attorney's office said.
Sylva and Santiago are scheduled to appear at a detention hearing Monday.
VILLAGE PARK MAN HELD IN CAR THEFT
Police arrested an 18-year-old Village Park man on Thursday for suspicion of car theft and said the arrest of several other members of a suspected auto-theft ring are likely to follow.
The first of the suspected car thieves was arrested for suspicion of four counts of car theft about 12:15 p.m. yesterday, fronting an address on Mikalemi Street in 'Aiea.
Police said they believe the man is part of a theft ring preying on cars in the Halawa and 'Aiea areas. Police said several other suspects have been identified and their arrests are forthcoming.
Four car-theft charges against the first of the suspected auto-theft ring suspects are pending, police said.
SUSPECT ARRESTED IN SEX ASSAULTS
A 22-year-old Makiki man was arrested Thursday for suspicion of six counts of first-degree sexual assault and three counts of third-degree sexual assault stemming from a relationship the man had with a 16-year-old O'ahu girl.
Police said the man met the girl in an Internet chat room in 2002 and moved to Hawai'i in 2003, when he began having sex with the girl.
