Suspect charged with robbery as iPhone ‘exchange’ goes bad

A 65-year-old Kakaako man is in custody, accused of slashing a man with a knife during a meeting to demand money from the victim’s wife in exchange for her stolen iPhone.

Stephen Perkins was arrested Sunday and is being held at Oahu Community Correctional Center in lieu of $30,000 bail. He was charged with first-degree robbery and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Monday.

According to a police affidavit filed in Honolulu District Court, Perkins reached the owner of the phone by calling her manager and leaving a message that he had bought the woman’s iPhone from a homeless person and wanted to arrange "an exchange" for the phone.

When the owner, a 48-year-old woman, received the message, she called her phone and Perkins answered. She agreed to meet him at the entrance of Sam’s Club on Keeaumoku Street and brought her husband to the meeting at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday, police said in the affidavit.

At the meeting, Perkins showed the woman a yellow iPhone 5C, which the woman had reported as stolen earlier that day, according to the affidavit. The woman told Perkins that the phone was stolen and asked him to return it. Perkins told her he would give it back for $60.

Then the woman’s 48-year-old husband tried to grab the phone, and the two men began tussling, the affidavit said. During the scuffle, Perkins took out a knife and slashed the husband’s torso, causing a 3- to 4-inch gash on his left side, police said.

Perkins also hit the husband in the face, cutting the inside of his lip.

The husband’s son arrived and helped take away the knife and detain Perkins, the affidavit said. Arriving officers arrested Perkins and recovered the woman’s iPhone from his front pocket.

Michelle Yu, Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman, said in an email that people should avoid putting themselves in a potentially dangerous situation.

She said anyone contacted by someone wanting to return a stolen item in exchange for money should call 911.

"Don’t confront a suspect," Yu said. "The person could be dangerous or violent. Any information obtained should be passed on to the police for investigation and action."