An 18-year-old Kapa‘a man was sentenced to five years probation and one year in jail after he tried to steal a Jeep, but was forced out of the vehicle by the car’s owner armed with a pocket knife. Anthony Dux,
An 18-year-old Kapa‘a man was sentenced to five years probation and one year in jail after he tried to steal a Jeep, but was forced out of the vehicle by the car’s owner armed with a pocket knife.
Anthony Dux, who pleaded guilty to unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle and attempted unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle in February, was also ordered to undergo a substance-abuse evaluation and counseling.
Dux apologized in court for his actions, saying, “I never know I threatened him so much,” he said of the attempted carjack victim. “If he (were) here, I would apologize.”
His lawyer, Deputy Public Defender John Calma, said Dux is a product of numerous foster homes, where he suffered abuse. But as he grows older, he is maturing, and has learned from his mistakes.
“Dux has goals in life. He wants to get a GED,” Calma said. “I think he’s learned in jail. He is maturing. He wants to show the court he has learned his lesson.
The 18-year-old’s mother, Kimberly Dux, also testified, saying that her son “is a good boy. He’s had a very hard life.”
She added that he’s in need of drug and alcohol treatment.
Prosecutors said Dux has been incarcerated since his arrest on Jan. 6, after he was caught trying to start up someone else’s Jeep, which was parked at the Kinipopo Shopping Village in Wailua.
The owner of the Jeep yelled at Dux to get out, and when Dux did not comply immediately, the owner pulled out a pocket knife to get Dux out of the Jeep, prosecutors continued.
The UCPV offense occurred in November 2004, when Dux and his friends took an Isuzu that was parked along Niulani Road in Kapa‘a, prosecutors said.
They continued that Dux was seen driving the stolen Isuzu at the Lihi Park boat ramp in Kapa‘a by a witness who thought that Dux was acting suspiciously and called the police.
- In other Circuit Court news:
A 19-year-old woman was given five years probation and 90 days in jail for opening the door of her live-in girlfriend’s car and punching her in the face.
Mandy Hepa, of Kapa‘a, who pleaded guilty to unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, third-degree assault and abuse of family or household members in March, also was ordered to pay $250 in fees, continue mental-health treatment, undergo a domestic-violence-intervention program, and have no contact with the victim.
Hepa’s defense attorney, Deputy Public Defender James Itamura, argued that Hepa is a respectful and responsible person with mental-health problems, and that society no longer locks up those with mental-health issues simply because of those issues.
But Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jennifer Winn said that this incident was not an isolated case.
“The defendant continually acts out in anger,” Winn said. According to prosecutors, Hepa was arrested on Oct. 2, 2004, after opening the door of a vehicle parked in a Kukui Grove Center parking lot and punching her former live-in girlfriend in the face. Hepa then leaned over and punched another occupant in the vehicle, they said.
- Tom Finnegan, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or tfinnegan@pulitzer.net.
