Missing inmate brought back to prison
A 29-year-old Oahu Community Correctional Center escapee from a work furlough program was located Monday night and returned to the Kalihi prison.
Ernest Vierra, who was serving time for second-degree robbery and car theft, was reported missing after a Friday morning head count at the Laumaka Work Furlough Center. Vierra had held in community custody status, which is the lowest level of incarceration.
Deputy sheriffs on the U.S. Marshals Service Task Force Fugitive Team worked various leads that eventually led to Vierra’s arrest in Kapolei. Sheriffs returned him to OCCC at 8:30 p.m.
He now faces an additional charge of second-degree escape.
Waianae man is charged in car theft
Officers intervened in an argument between two men Monday afternoon and discovered a stolen car, police said.
During the argument, which took place just before 3:25 p.m., the two men drew weapons, police said.
Police later determined that a car connected to one of the men was stolen, and officers arrested a 49-year-old Waianae man near the McDonald’s restaurant in Wahiawa.
Robert Abordo Jr. was later charged with auto theft.
Suspect is held in assault on cabbie
Police arrested a 27-year-old downtown Honolulu man early Tuesday after he allegedly assaulted a taxicab driver near the University of Hawaii.
Police said the man entered the taxi, allegedly verbally threatened and physically assaulted the cabdriver at about 2:15 a.m., got out and fled.
Police found the suspect and arrested him at 3:10 a.m. on suspicion of interference with the operator of a public transit vehicle.
Blaze damages restaurant shed
Kauai firefighters early Tuesday extinguished a fire that caused $30,000 in damage to a storage shed at the Chicken in a Barrel BBQ restaurant in Kapaa.
Crews were dispatched to 4-1586 Kuhio Highway shortly before 1 a.m. and found the storage shed behind the restaurant in flames. The blaze was extinguished in 20 minutes. The cause is under investigation.
A refrigeration unit and ice machine were among the items in the shed that were damaged. A neighboring building also sustained some heat damage, officials said.
