In Fifth Circuit Court Thursday, May 22, sentencings included the man who robbed the Puhi Thrifty Mart last December; a married couple involved with welfare fraud; a drug offender who jumped bail; another who successfully completed drug abuse treatment; a
In Fifth Circuit Court Thursday, May 22, sentencings included the man who robbed the Puhi Thrifty Mart last December; a married couple involved with welfare fraud; a drug offender who jumped bail; another who successfully completed drug abuse treatment; a man who broke into his ex-wife’s home and abused her; and a man who shot at a truck on New Year’s Eve.
- Kenneth Gross, 42, of Kapaa, was arrested on December 14 after officers of the Kauai Police Department investigated a robbery complaint at the Puhi Thrifty Mart. Gross entered a guilty plea to first-degree robbery March 20. Judge Clifford L. Nakea sentenced Gross.
Gross entered the Puhi Thrifty Mart December 14 wearing a ski mask and armed with a metal rebar. He demanded cash from the cashiers and when they refused, Gross struggled with two employees of the store to take their purses. A man who was in a nearby shop heard the commotion, struggled with Gross and unmasked him. Witnesses then recognized Gross as someone they met before and a regular customer at the Puhi Thrifty Mart.
Also in Fifth Circuit Court Thursday, Michael Texeira, 42, who has been incarcerated since December, was sentenced to a five-year term of imprisonment.
- Texeira was convicted of terroristic threatening in the first degree and theft in the second degree in two separate cases. Texeira entered guilty pleas to both charges March 13.
The terroristic threatening offense was committed in March 2001 when Texeira threatened the 16 year-old girlfriend of his nephew with a baseball bat at a home in Kapaa. This case was delayed by Texeira’s failure to appear for trial in June 2001, said First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Craig De Costa.
A warrant for Texeira’s arrest was issued and Texeira was arrested on that warrant and a new warrant last December.
The theft offense was for receiving $10,706 of overpayments from the Department of Human Services. Texeira and his wife, Verrina Texeira, failed to report income from employment.
Verrina Texeira, 31, has also been incarcerated since December and also entered a guilty plea to theft in the second degree March 13. Verrina was sentenced to a five-year term of probation with special conditions including nine months incarceration; residential substance abuse treatment of at least 30 days duration; and drug testing.
Both Michael and Verrina were ordered to make restitution to the Department of Human Services of $10,706 in overpayments.
- Keith Asuncion, 45, who has been incarcerated since being sentenced on felony drug charges entered a guilty plea to bail jumping in the first degree. He was sentenced to a five-year term of incarceration.
Asuncion intentionally missed his sentencing date of April 10 in the felony drug case. Judge Nakea ordered that the sentences for the bail jumping charge run concurrently to the sentence for the drug offense. Asuncion will have a maximum total of 10 years incarceration with a mandatory minimum of three years and four months before he is eligible for parole.
- Robert Summers, 46, of Kalaheo, was sentenced to a five-year term of probation for criminal property damage in the first degree.
Summers entered a guilty plea to the felony charge on March 10. Summers was arrested on New Year’s day of this year after shooting a truck that was “burning rubber” in his driveway.
Special conditions of probation included 90 days incarceration and 400 hours of community service. Also, Summers is not allowed to possess alcohol, attend and complete anger management, and forfeiture of the firearm seized by the police.
A person commits criminal property damage in the first degree when that person intentionally damages property and places another person in danger of bodily injury or death.
- Timothy Jeffrey, 30, of Koloa, was sentenced to a 5 years probation for three separate felony drug related cases. Special conditions of probation included time served, 209 days and 22 hours, 800 hours of community service, fines and fees, and drug testing.
Jeffrey was rated as “excellent” while on supervised release pending trial and sentencing. He enrolled in and completed drug treatment and maintained full-time employment while on supervised release.
- Derwyn Ujano, 45, who has been incarcerated since February 4, was sentenced to a five-year term of probation for burglary and family abuse charges. Special conditions to his probation include incarceration for one year and anger management.
Ujano entered guilty pleas to the offenses March 6. He committed the offenses on January 23 when he snuck into his ex-wife’s home and twisted her fingers to take a telephone away from her to prevent her from calling the police. Ujano grabbed, bit and threw his ex-wife down.
