Marc Shiroma robbed the First Hawaiian Bank in Chinatown on Dec. 16 for the second time, federal court documents say.
The next day, just as he had done eight years earlier, he walked into the Chinatown police substation and turned himself in, authorities said. Court documents said he got away with $200.
Shiroma, who already has three convictions for bank robbery, is scheduled to plead guilty to bank robbery in federal court Wednesday.
Most bank robberies in Hawaii are committed by the destitute, homeless or mentally ill, with many of them, like Shiroma, wanting to be sheltered in prison because they are unable to cope in the outside world, said Shiroma’s attorney, Federal Public Defender Alexander Silvert.
"They can’t make it out there for one reason or another," Silvert said. "A lot of these people don’t even leave the bank."
He added, "It’s the rare exception where we have bank robberies where you’ve got guns drawn."
Silvert said some choose to commit bank robberies because they know they will be housed in a federal prison, which is considered to be of better quality than a state facility.
At a previous sentencing, Shiroma, who has a history of mental health problems, stated he wanted to be imprisoned because he has trouble living on his own, Silvert said.
FBI Special Agent Tom Simon declined to comment on the type of people who rob banks, but said most bank robberies in Hawaii result in a "staggeringly small" amount of money taken, and police and FBI hunt the robbers down "usually with great success."
In 2014 there were 17 bank robberies in Hawaii, with only one unsolved, said Simon, who called it a "typical year."
The reason, he said, is probably because getaway options for robbers are limited.
"The bank robbery numbers for Honolulu are always among the lowest in the nation for cities this size," he said.
He said Hawaii generally has a greater success rate in catching bank robbers than the national rate of 85 percent.
On Sept. 20, 2006, Shiroma walked into the First Hawaiian Bank and gave a teller a note saying, "give me money," and received $430, according to court documents. The next day, he walked into the Chinatown substation and admitted robbing the bank, documents said.
He was sentenced to seven years in prison, ordered to pay $430 in restitution to the bank and was on supervised release when he allegedly robbed the bank again in December.
Shiroma was also convicted of robbing a Hawaii National Bank on Nov. 18, 2002, and the Chinatown branch of American Savings Bank on June 21, 1999.
He was sentenced to about three years in prison in both cases and was ordered to pay $521 in restitution to American Savings Bank. In the Hawaii National Bank case, he was ordered to pay $9.79 restitution.
Bank robbery carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
