Updated at 7:09 a.m., Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Hilo fugitive since May 2006 caught in lower Puna
Advertiser Staff
Big Island police have captured a 44-year-old Hilo man wanted for escape for disappearing from a work release program in May 2006.Detectives assigned to the Criminal Investigations Section in Hilo arrested Richard Correa at a home in the Kalapana Seaview Estates subdivision in lower Puna yesterday morning. He was taken into custody without incident.
On Feb. 20, Hawaii Community Correctional Center staff reported the escape to Hilo police. They reported that Correa was on a work release program and was to have returned to the Hawaii Community Correctional Center's Hale Nani Facility on May 6, 2006, but failed to do so. Correa had been sentenced to 120 days in jail for traffic and contempt-of-court convictions.
At noon Tuesday, Correa was charged with second-degree escape. He is in police custody at the Hilo cellblock pending an initial court appearance for the escape charge.
Bail for the escape has been set at $10,000. Correa is also being held without bail under the strength of five bench warrants that were issued for him while he was at large.
