Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro says protecting seniors is one of his top priorities, and he plans to use two new laws that afford more protections to people 62 and older.

"The approach of this office is to protect those who can’t protect themselves," Kaneshiro said Wednesday during a news conference.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed Act 63 into law on May 26, followed by Act 187 on July 5. The new laws provide "substantially increased penalties" for crimes against seniors, said Dave Koga, Kaneshiro’s executive assistant for communications.

The first new law states that a threat against someone protected by a restraining or protective order is a felony carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

The second makes first-degree unauthorized entry into the home of a senior or someone who is mentally or physically disabled a felony with a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Both offenses were formerly misdemeanors, each with a maximum sentence of one year in prison.

"Since we’ve been seeing an increase in these crimes, we’ve taken an aggressive approach in protecting the elderly," Kaneshiro said.

Bruce Bottorff, associate state director of AARP, said, "As our population continues to age, it’s good policy to afford greater protection to the seniors out there."

The first application of the new laws occurred Wednesday, when a grand jury indicted a 19-year-old man in the burglary of his 73-year-old father’s home and for allegedly threatening to kill him.

Between Aug. 11 and Aug. 16, Noah Perkins broke into his father’s Hawaii Kai home three times, verbally threatened him and on one occasion left a threatening note, the indictment said.

At the time Jonah Perkins had a restraining order against his son.

Under the new laws, Noah Perkins is charged with four counts of first-degree burglary and one count each of first-degree unauthorized entry in a dwelling, first-degree terroristic threatening and violation of a restraining order.

Each burglary count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, terroristic threatening is punishable by up to five years and unauthorized entry into a dwelling carries a maximum of 10 years.

Under the old laws, Perkins would have been charged with misdemeanors. He was in police custody Wednesday, held in lieu of $100,000 bail, Kaneshiro said.

"It’s necessary to have this new law," Kaneshiro said. "Now we have protection for the elderly."