Man with isle ties nabbed in mainland crime spree

A 34-year-old man with Hawaii ties and a lengthy criminal record was arrested in California in connection with a crime spree that began in Las Vegas and ended in San Bernardino, Calif.

Kevin Michael Kealoha was arrested Thursday by deputy sheriffs in San Bernardino and booked for carjacking, attempted kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon and felony abating.

Kealoha was armed when he allegedly rammed a deputy’s vehicle with a stolen car. He is also suspected in a carjacking, police chase and road-rage shooting that led to a lockdown at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

His arraignment is scheduled for Monday at Victorville Superior Court. Kealoha’s bail has been set at $250,000, according to Cindy Bachman, spokeswoman of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Kealoha allegedly began a rampage Thursday morning and was allegedly involved in a road rage incident at UNLV.

At about 10:20 a.m. PST, a Honda Civic chased a white pickup truck onto campus. UNLV spokesman Francis McCabe said the truck was operated by a staff member who was with her 11-year-old daughter. Kealoha allegedly fired gunshots at the vehicle, and the staff member and her daughter managed to flee into the Claude I. Howard Public Safety Building.

No injuries were reported. The pickup truck sustained a broken driver’s side window.

Police officer Jay Rivera of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Kealoha is also linked to at least two separate carjackings that occurred this week sometime prior to the road rage.

Shortly before 2 p.m. Thursday, deputy sheriffs responded to a carjacking at a Chevron gas station in Hesperia in San Bernardino County. Bachman said Kea­loha is accused of arriving at the gas station in a vehicle that was reportedly stolen in a carjacking in Las Vegas this week.

During the carjacking he allegedly approached a man, brandished a gun and tried to get the victim to get in the car with him, but he fled in the vehicle without the victim.

Deputy sheriffs spotted the stolen vehicle, and a chase ensued through the city until Kealoha struck a fence. He then intentionally rammed into a marked patrol car before deputy sheriffs took him into custody.

Bachman said sheriffs recovered the stolen Honda Civic from Las Vegas and found a handgun inside believed to be used in the Chevron carjacking in Hesperia.

Kealoha is expected to be extradited to Las Vegas from San Bernardino for the carjacking and road rage crimes.

He is also wanted in Maui County.

In April the Maui Police Department issued a bulletin seeking the public’s help in locating Kealoha for an arrest warrant.

According to Maui County deputy prosecuting attorney Kerry Glen, Kealoha has three separate bench warrants from Maui County Family Court as well as one bench warrant from Honolulu District Court for driving without a license.

Glen said police had submitted a report to the prosecutor’s office concerning a firearm-related violation. The time period and circumstances relating to the violation were unclear.

Kealoha has a lengthy criminal record that includes felony auto theft, theft, forgery, fraudulent use of a credit card, criminal property damage and assault.

In 2003 a Maui circuit judge sentenced him to five years in jail for unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, forgery, negotiating a worthless negotiable instrument and multiple counts of theft.