POLICE BEAT
Identity-theft suspects charged
Advertiser Staff
HILO, Hawai'i — Two women and a man have been charged in connection with an investigation of several groups of people allegedly involved in identity theft cases across the Big Island, police said.
Big Island police this week charged Maggie A. Rodrigues, 28, with four counts of second-degree forgery, four counts of second-degree theft and two counts of second-degree identity theft in connection with the cases.
In December police charged Kyle S. Fukunaga, 28, with two counts of second-degree forgery and two counts of second-degree theft as well as three counts of promotion of a dangerous drug and two drug paraphernalia charges.
Also charged last month was Rhanna M. Gonsalves, 24, who faced six counts of second-degree identity theft, eight counts of second-degree theft and six counts of forgery as well as four drug-related charges.
Gonsalves was being held last night at the Hawai'i Community Correctional Center in lieu of $67,250 bail, and Rodrigues is being held in lieu of $46,500 bail.
Fukunaga was not in custody at the jail last night.
MAN SURRENDERS IN HIT-RUN CASE
A man who was wanted in connection with a fatal hit-and-run pedestrian accident Tuesday morning turned himself in to police yesterday.
The 21-year-old Waipahu man was booked at 1:45 p.m. on suspicion of failure to render and negligent homicide. He was released two hours later without charges pending further investigation, police said.
Police had been seeking the driver of a car that struck and killed an 86-year-old woman who was crossing Nimitz Highway in Iwilei on Tuesday morning. Police said Betty Santiago was in a crosswalk at Sumner Street when she was hit by a Dodge Stratus.
The driver fled the scene, but police found the vehicle later that night at a Waipahu home. Police identified the owner of the car and had urged him to surrender.
CANADIAN VISITOR KILLED IN CRASH
LAHAINA, Maui — A 44-year-old woman from Alberta, Canada, died early yesterday after a two-car crash at the entry to the Ka'anapali resort area.
Police said the collision happened about midnight when a 2006 Chrysler Sebring traveling north on Honoapi'ilani Highway ran a red light and tried to turn left onto Ka'anapali Parkway. The sedan was broadsided by a southbound 2005 GMC Envoy driven by a 20-year-old Kihei man.
Terri Martin, a passenger in the Sebring, was killed. The driver, her 45-year-old husband, was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center with serious injuries.
Police said the Kihei man was not injured.
Martin's death is Maui's second traffic fatality of the year.
