Maui man dies after being found unresponsive at Federal Detention Facility

A 38-year-old Maui resident died Saturday at a hospital where he was taken from the Federal Detention Center after he was found unresponsive in his cell, federal officials said today.

Inmate Gavin Galacia, a Paia resident, was found in his cell at 1:30 a.m. Saturday unresponsive. He was treated and taken from the federal facility, near the Honolulu Airport, to the hospital where he died.

Galacia was serving a 74-month sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The Maui News in 2012 reported that Galacia also was sentenced to a 10-year prison term for beating a man while burglarizing his home in Huelo in 2007.

At that time, Galacia was incarcerated at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Complex in Texas and was sentenced via video teleconference by a Maui Circuit Court judge.

He pleaded no contest to first-degree burglary and first-degree assault for the break-in the night of Sept. 24, 2007, at a residence on Door of Faith Road.

Police said Galacia and two 17-year-old boys went to the home to steal, knowing that marijuana was being grown on the property. Resident Donald Regalmuto shot Galacia, then Regalmuto was beaten with a statue, according to police.

Both men were hospitalized. Police reported finding 107 marijuana plants with root systems and 72 marijuana clones without root systems at the residence.

Galacia also pleaded no contest to three counts of third-degree sexual assault, second-degree terroristic threatening and fourth-degree sexual assault of a child, the Maui newspaper reported.

Second Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo sentenced Galacia, who was ordered to register as a sex offender and to have no contact with Regalmuto and the girl.

In Galacia’s federal case, he was sentenced to a prison term of six years and two months, with three years of supervised release. Galacia pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and knowingly possessing a firearm on Sept. 22, 2011.