LIHUE – A man charged in a fatal crash last year on Kauai is in court this week facing theft charges of over $1,000 worth of goods from a fine art shop on the North Shore.
Cody Safadago, 47, formerly of Washington State, is charged with one count of theft two, a class C felony that could land him a prison term of up to five years and and one county of theft three, a misdemeanor crime that could send him away for up to one year.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matthew Arakawa questioned two witnesses about the alleged theft incident in January of last year.
The first witness, who is part owner of the store, stated she came to work on Jan. 5 and discovered some of the Hanalei store’s jewelry was missing, so she called the second witness who is also part owner of the store to come and figure out what happened to the items.
John Murphy, Safadago’s defense attorney, argued that the first witness’s husband, who is also part owner of the store, belongs to an outreach group and gave Safadago permission to take the items from their store.
The case started Monday and will be continued today.
Safadago is scheduled to face a jury Oct. 29 and is charged with eight counts relating to an accident that killed 19-year-old Kayla Huddy-Lemn of Kapaa on April 27, 2017.
Police say Safadago was driving a stolen pickup truck when it crossed the center line on Kuhio Highway in front of the Courtyards at Waipouli complex, striking a sedan head on that was driven by Huddy-Lemn.
After the impact, the truck continued south for about 500 feet until it came to a stop near Kintaro Japanese Restaurant.
Huddy-Lemn was transported to Wilcox Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.
An on-scene investigation revealed the truck Safadago is alleged to have been driving was stolen from a home in Kapaa just minutes before the accident. Safadago fled the scene on foot, but was later located by police at the Wailua Shopping Plaza and was apprehended following a struggle.
Since his indictment and arrest, Safadago has gone through several defense attorneys.
On Sept. 11, his new attorney successfully argued for an accident reconstructionist, because Safadago maintains that he wasn’t the driver of the vehicle.
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Bethany Freudenthal, Crime, courts and county reporter, 652-7891, bfreudenthal@thegardenisland.com
