Missing license plate yields crime wave

A 21-year-old Mountain View man is facing 11 criminal charges — including five felonies — following a routine traffic stop on Tuesday.

Isaac Rosa was stopped on Ihope Road about 12:45 p.m. when patrol officers noticed that the pickup truck he was driving did not have a rear license plate.

Upon inspection of the truck, officers also determined that it did not have a vehicle identification number and arrested Rosa on suspicion of altering a motor vehicle serial number.

Further investigation revealed that the truck had been stolen in a warehouse burglary on Stainback Highway in February and that Rosa had been an accomplice in a burglary at another warehouse on Wiliama Street in Keaau on March 24, police said. A sedan stolen in that burglary was used later that day in the theft of a pickup truck on Kakau Street in Hilo.

In addition, Rosa was also linked to the theft of a John Deere all-terrain vehicle on March 18 in Honomu.

Police recovered all three stolen vehicles and the ATV.

On Thursday, police charged Rosa with three counts of unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle and one each of second-degree burglary, accomplice to first-degree theft, second-degree criminal property damage, accomplice to fourth-degree criminal property damage, driving without a license, driving without insurance, and altering a motor vehicle serial number.

The accomplice to first-degree theft, a Class B felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, was enhanced from accomplice to second-degree theft because Puna was under a disaster declaration when the theft occurred.

Rosa’s aggregate bail was set at $16,775.