Two 26-year-old men accused of robbing a Pearl City smoke shop last month with a Wahiawa man who federal authorities say admitted to robbing five Oahu businesses in a single night in October were indicted Thursday in U.S. District Court in Honolulu.
Forrester King-Akui, also known as Tino, and Clint Washington Jr. were being held Saturday at the Honolulu Federal Detention Center. A federal grand jury returned an indictment against King-Akui and Washington, charging them with robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and a firearm offense.
Wayne Okagbue, 21, of Wahiawa, was charged Oct. 13 with robbery and a firearm offense in connection with the smoke shop robbery. All three were charged in federal court because the robbery of Hawaiian Holy Smokes affected interstate commerce, federal authorities said. The robbery charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Okagbue admitted to federal agents that he robbed five businesses on Oct. 8 and that King-Akui and Washington entered only one robbery location with him — the Holy Smokes store, court documents said. He said he obtained the handgun from King-Akui, and after the robberies, the three divided up the stolen property and went to a game room, the documents said.
King-Akui and Washington went inside the game room, but Okagbue stayed in a vehicle and smoked marijuana.
The document added that Okagbue reportedly has a history of mental health problems.
According to the court documents, at about
7:30 p.m. Oct. 8, Okagbue demanded money from two employees at Hawaiian Holy Smokes while wielding a handgun. Two other men entered the store wearing “Scream”-type masks, and the three men left with about $1,500 worth of cash, merchandise and personal property.
Before leaving, Okagbue slammed the butt of the handgun on a display case, causing the magazine to fall out of the gun, the document said. The magazine was unloaded.
About 9 p.m. the same night, Okagbue entered the Ewa Beach L&L Drive-Inn, pointed a handgun at an employee and demanded money. When the employee refused, Okagbue took the employee’s cellphone and threw it at the front door, then left empty-handed.
The employee called another person, who saw the car that Okagbue reportedly fled in — a white Buick with 24-inch chrome rims — parked at a house nearby. The woman confronted a man, who was later identified as Washington, about the robbery, but he denied involvement.
Three days later, the property manager where Okagbue lives called police after seeing security footage of the Holy Smokes robbery on television.
In an interview with police, King-Akui told detectives that he lives with his girlfriend and their 8-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter in the same apartment building as Okagbue. He said he knows Washington, the owner of the Buick, through the car scene.
Okagbue and King-Akui were being held without bail because they were considered a flight risk and for the safety of the community.