Coco Palms vacated, woman arrested

State sheriffs’ deputies arrested a 23-year-old woman at the shuttered Coco Palms property on Kauai after authorities ordered occupants to vacate the property.

Twenty-five deputy sheriffs executed a court-ordered writ of ejectment at 8:30 a.m. Thursday. Two people were on-site when deputy sheriffs arrived.

Toni Schwartz, spokeswoman of the Hawaii Department of Public Safety, said one individual voluntarily left and the 23-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of trespassing.

A trespassing charge is pending against the woman.

Kauai police had temporarily closed a section of Kuamoo Road between Kuhio Highway and Opaekaa Falls parking lot in Wailua Homesteads during the enforcement action as a safety precaution.

Since 2017, dozens of people including Noa Mau-Espirito, who said he is a descendant of King Kaumualii and Kamu “Charles” Hepa, occupied the land.

In January, District Court Judge Michael Soong ordered Mau-Espirito and Hepa to leave the property. According to a source, the two men were there during the enforcement action but were on the road, not on the property.

In an e-mailed statement, Kauai Police Chief Darryl Perry said, “Our law enforcement officers are required to uphold the laws of the county of Kauai, and protect and serve its people without prejudice”

“Consistent with the court order, we were asked by the state’s Sheriff Division to assist. Our primary mission for today was to ensure the safety of all parties involved, which we will continue to do in all matters we respond to,” he said. In 2016, Coco Palms Hui LLC acquired the property from Prudential Insurance’s PR II LLC to redevelop the resort that sustained significant damage from Hurricane Iniki in 1992.

The resort opened in January 1953. Movies were filmed there including the 1961 Elvis Presley film “Blue Hawaii.” Investment partners Tyler Greene and Chad Waters of Coco Palms Hui could not be reached for comment.