One of two detainees who escaped from Maui Community Correctional Center early Sunday remains at large.
The state Department of Public Safety said Troy Diego, 30, is 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs 140 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes.
Maui Mayor Michael Victorino, in a written statement, urged residents to “stay calm but remain vigilant.”
DPS spokeswoman Toni E. Schwartz said MCCC officials discovered Diego and Barret Paman missing at 2:30 a.m. Sunday after finding a broken door in the back of the men’s dormitory building. She said Diego and Paman had community custody status, the lowest security classification level.
Paman, 31, turned himself in to Maui police just after 3 p.m. Sunday.
He was in MCCC awaiting trial on charges that he and two accomplices burglarized and conspired to burglarize a Waiehu Beach Road home, stealing 19 firearms and other items including cash and jewelry. Paman is also charged with carrying a loaded firearm on a public highway and doing so without a license. His trial is scheduled for June 3. He now faces an additional escape charge.
Diego was sentenced to four years of probation in 2017 for unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle and second- degree theft. He was taken into custody in July for failing to appear in Drug Court and for a hearing to determine whether he had violated the terms of his release by using drugs and failing to report to his supervising officer. A state judge granted his release on $50,000 bail, but he was taken back into custody for more alleged violations.
The escapes come just about a month after a riot at the Maui jail put the facility into lockdown for hours and caused an estimated $5.3 million in damage for this fiscal year and another $8 million in the next fiscal year. Forty-two inmates allegedly refused to return to their modules, broke sprinklers and started a fire.
Authorities blamed the riot on overcrowding. Jail workers blamed poor leadership at the state Department of Public Safety. A state Senate panel last week voted against reappointing the department’s director, Nolan Espinda, citing the riot as one of several factors.
Maui police are asking anyone with information about Diego’s whereabouts to call 244-6400 or, in an emergency, 911. They caution people not to approach Diego.
