WAILUKU >> A Maui man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for choking a young student while robbing him of an iPad.

Nicholas Slot, 34, was sentenced Wednesday for the March 2017 attack and theft outside a Maui school, The Maui News reported. He was found guilty by 2nd Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo in a nonjury trial in December of second-degree robbery and second-degree terroristic threatening.

The boy testified he was 10 and in fourth grade when Slot grabbed his iPad and put a hand against his neck while pressing him against a bench outside Sacred Hearts School in Lahaina. Slot threatened to hurt the boy if he told anyone, the boy testified.

Another student notified a teacher who chased and confronted Slot, who told the teacher he was a police employee and “it was just a test.”

Slot was homeless and started drinking vodka early in the day before the robbery, he said. “I blanked out,” Slot said. “I wasn’t on my meds.”

Slot already has been incarcerated for more than two years in the case and asked to be placed on probation so he can enter a treatment program for substance abuse and mental health issues on Oahu.

Loo noted Slot has 28 criminal convictions and said he squandered his previous chances on probation. “This is not a test,” Loo said. “This is the real deal. And the real deal in your case calls for a prison term.”

More than 1,000 feral Kauai cats spayed

LIHUE >> A roving animal management organization has sterilized more than 1,000 cats this year to combat cat overpopulation on Kauai.

Animal Balance’s Spay Pod began working in January to form mobile sterilization hospitals with area volunteer groups, The Garden Island reported.

Cat overpopulation poses problems for the island’s bird populations and potentially carries toxoplasmosis, a parasite that can impact humans and endangered Hawaiian monk seals, the group said.

“We’re working toward the goal to reduce the cat population on Kauai in as humane a way as possible,” said program director Elsa Kohlbus. “Any impact we make means a positive impact on the environment and the species that share the environment with the cats.”

The organization plans to complete 2,000 procedures in one week when it returns Sept. 8-12 for free events in Kapaa and Poipu, Kohlbus said.

Animal Balance works with global partners to balance feral cat and dog populations, officials said. It first worked on Kauai in 2017 with an international team of veterinarian volunteers to form a Mobile Animal Sterilization Hospital clinic. The MASH clinics periodically return and spay hundreds of cats and dogs.

The Spay Pod is a separate effort to reduce Kauai’s feral cat population that Kohlbus said relies on volunteers and is “something we couldn’t do without community support.”