honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 6:46 p.m., Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Kaneohe slaying suspect arrested in Alabama

Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

The accused shooter and two accomplices will be tried on charges related to the May 2007 Kane'ohe slaying of Benjamin Grajeda but a fourth suspect has pleaded guility, prosecutors confirmed today.

Charles Lee Freeman, the getaway car driver, last week entered a guilty plea "related to charges in the case," prosecutors said without further comment. Freeman had been previously charged with kidnapping and hindering prosecution.

The remaining outstanding suspect in the Grajeda case was arrested today by the U.S. Marshals Service in Alabama.

Reginald "Red" Pettway was arrested on a $2 million warrant charging him with first-degree burglary and being an accomplice to robbery and kidnapping. Honolulu authorities posted the warrant for Pettaway's arrest with the National Crime Information Center following his indictment yesterday.

Prosecutors will seek Pettway's extradition to Hawai'i to stand trial with Jerrico Dewon "Rick" Lindsey and Melissa Ordonez, who were also indicted yesterday though both were previously charged.

Trial was scheduled for June but will likely be pushed back.

Pettway allegedly violated terms terms of his probation in Alabama for a drug conviction by being in Hawai'i in May 2007. He was allegedly with Freeman and Lindsey in the getaway car abandoned in Hale'iwa but eluded a police manhunt and returned to Alabama.

Police today arrested Lindsey, 28, the accused shooter, on a $3 million warrant at 12:20 p.m. on nine of the 15 counts returned by the grand jury yesterday. Lindsey is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, kidnapping, first-degree terroristic threatening, and four firearm offenses.

Ordonez, 22, also known as Rihanna Joy Valentino, was arrested at the O'ahu Community Correctional Center on a $2 million warrant at 8:45 a.m. and booked for being an accomplice to first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery and kidnapping.

Lindsey and Ordonez will be arraigned tomorrow at Circuit Court.

Yesterday's indictment stated Pettway, Lindsey and Ordonez are eligible for enhanced sentencing based on their criminal records if they are convicted.

Grajeda was beaten unconscious and kidnapped on May 14 by three men who forced their way into his Pu'uohalai Place apartment with the alleged assistance from Ordonez. The group intended to rob Grajeda of dash and drugs.

Grajeda was placed in the truck of a car but managed to escape. He was shot with a semi-automatic assault pistol while running on Kane'ohe Bay Drive. Police surrounded the getaway car in Hale'iwa a short time after the shooting.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.