An Oahu grand jury has indicted a 46-year-old man and his alleged accomplice in the robbery of a Mililani gambling establishment concealed in the back portion of a house.
Bruce Sesepasara was indicted Wednesday in a Sept. 28 early morning armed robbery. The indictment alleges Sesepasara, who is charged with first- degree robbery, allegedly used a firearm, semi- automatic or automatic firearm and/or a simulated firearm during the theft.
Cody Robello Passi was indicted on the charges of first-degree accomplice to robbery and first-degree burglary, and reportedly knew property owner Joshua Iuli. Robello Passi was allegedly armed with a real or fake gun, according to the indictment.
He also allegedly burglarized a room Sept. 30 at the Waikiki Grand Hotel at 134 Kapahulu Ave.
Police said the gambling den consisted of three rooms attached to the rear of the multiunit residential home at 95-214 Wailawa St.
Iuli told police an armed robbery had occurred and that he had video surveillance of the incident.
The robbery was described in a statement from police that at 12:49 a.m. an unknown, unmasked man entered the room where cashier Xiaozhou Jiang was seated and began yelling at her. He grabbed her backpack containing her wallet, phones and other belongings, then took the cash box and other items in the room, stuffing Jiang’s backpack.
Jiang told police that he then demanded she open all the game machines in the room, and she complied.
As she was opening up the machines, she said, she saw another man pointing something at the security guards, who were lying facedown on the floor. She described the second man as wearing a red hat and holding a silver gun.
Jiang was able to get to another room and alerted Iuli, who had been playing on one of the machines and had heard some commotion in the next room.
Iuli reportedly saw one of the men trying to open one of the gaming machines and yelled at him. He and Jiang remained in the room until the robbers left.
The robbers took Jiang’s personal items and $4,500 in cash taken from the cash box and machines, according to the court documents.
Iuli was able to identify Robello Passi in a photograph shown to him as the man in the video.
Iuli told police he had known Robello Passi for more than 10 years, and saw him the day before the robbery when Robello Passi asked him for bail money.
Sesepasara was released Sept. 18 on $50,000 bail in an unrelated Class B felony drug promotion case involving methamphetamine. Robello Passi had been out since January on $5,000 bail for an assault and terroristic threatening case that occurred in December, the Judiciary’s website shows.
Officers in the District 3 Crime Reduction Unit saw Iuli’s surveillance video and identified Sesepasara as the man with the firearm and Robello Passi as the man who took Jiang’s belongings.
Members of the District 7 Crime Reduction Unit found and arrested Sesepasara at 1:30 a.m. Sept. 30 in McCully.
The court documents do not mention whether there were any arrests or seizures related to illegal gambling, or illegal gambling machines.
