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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, April 30, 2008

$2M warrant out for Kane'ohe kidnapping, robbery suspect

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

A $2 million warrant was issued yesterday for the arrest of a Mobile, Ala., man on charges connected to last May's botched kidnapping and robbery that ended in the slaying of a suspected drug dealer in Kane'ohe.

Reginald "Red" Pettway, 30, was indicted by an O'ahu grand jury yesterday on one count each of first-degree burglary, being an accomplice to first-degree robbery, and being an accomplice to kidnapping.

Pettway, a previously unnamed suspect in the killing of Benjamin Grajeda, was indicted along with Jerrico Dewon "Rick" Lindsey, 28 — the accused shooter — and 22-year-old Melissa Ordonez, who was charged with being an accomplice to first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery and kidnapping.

Nine of the indictment's 15 counts are directed at Lindsey. He is charged with second-degree murder; four firearm offenses related to the possession and use of a semi-automatic assault pistol with a magazine capacity of over 10 rounds; first-degree terroristic threatening; first-degree burglary; first-degree robbery; and kidnapping.

Lindsey's bail is $3 million, while bail for Ordonez has been raised from $1 million to $2 million by the indictment.

Charles Lee Freeman, the alleged getaway car driver who previously was indicted on charges of kidnapping and hindering prosecution, Lindsey and Ordonez are in custody at various local facilities.

Yesterday's indictment stated prosecutors could seek enhanced sentencing if Lindsey, Pettway and Ordonez are convicted based on their criminal records.

Ordonez, a Maui native also known as Rihanna Joy Valentino, was on federal probation for a drug conviction when she allegedly "orchestrated" the robbery of Grajeda with Lindsey, whom she knew from Maui.

Grajeda was beaten and kidnapped from his Pu'uohalai Place apartment on May 14 by three men and shot to death on Kane'ohe Bay Drive after escaping from the trunk of a car.

A police manhunt for the shooting suspects led to the arrests of Lindsey and Freeman in Hale'iwa after they abandoned the getaway car. Pettway managed to elude capture in Hale'iwa and returned to Alabama.

Upon his return, Pettway was taken into custody for allegedly violating conditions of his probation for a drug conviction in Alabama by coming to Hawai'i.

But he was recently released, and his current whereabouts are unknown.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.