LIHU’E – Kekaha resident B. J. Thomas Duarte, 20, pled guilty Monday to first-degree robbery, and could face 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in mid-June. He stands accused of brandishing a knife during an armed robbery of
LIHU’E – Kekaha resident B. J. Thomas Duarte, 20, pled guilty Monday to first-degree robbery, and could face 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in mid-June.
He stands accused of brandishing a knife during an armed robbery of Teresa’s Variety & Video Rentals store on Kekaha Road near the end of last year, according to Prosecuting Attorney Michael Soong.
Taken, according to police reports, was the store’s cash register, believed to contain between $1,500 and $2,000.
When police caught up with Duarte, in addition to being in possession of the knife believed to have been used in the robbery, he also had crystal methamphetamine (ice) and drug paraphernalia, Soong continued.
The class A felony armed robbery charge carries a mandatory 20-year sentence, but Duarte’s attorney, Public Defender Ed Acoba, is moving to have him sentenced as a youthful offender, which could reduce his mandatory sentence to eight years, said Soong.
Duarte made his plea before Fifth Circuit Court Judge George Masuoka yesterday, and likely will be sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Clifford Nakea on Thursday, June 13.
Police and prosecutors allege that on the Friday night between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Duarte, wearing a beanie cap over his head and face, entered the store, approached a cashier and, wielding a knife, pointed at the cash register and said he was going to take it.
Duarte snatched the register and fled on foot. No one was injured in the incident. Duarte’s freedom was short-lived, though, as police used an anonymous tip to the Crime Stoppers line to track him down and arrest him.
Lt. Alvin Seto of the Kauai Police Department, who is the KPD Crime Stoppers coordinator as well as head of the youth services bureau, said the “good-citizen tip” that led to the arrest was from a concerned resident who wasn’t interested in getting any reward money the Crime Stoppers program offers.
There are lots of good-citizen tips called into the Crime Stoppers line, 241-6787, from people who don’t want rewards, but only want to do the right thing and help police, Seto added.
