LIHUE Two men who ran away from Kauai Community Correctional Center two months ago are now facing felony charges for the escape.
LIHUE — Two men who ran away from Kauai Community Correctional Center two months ago are now facing felony charges for the escape.
On Sept. 25, county prosecutors charged Isaiah Pongasi-Adric and Jeffrey Kelekoma Jr. with class C felonies, punishable by up to five years in jail, for the escape. Kelekoma was arraigned on the charge Friday, and Pongasi-Adric on Monday. Both men pleaded not guilty.
Pongasi-Adric, 21, and Kelekoma, 37, were discovered missing from KCCC’s minimum security dorms during a headcount conducted just before 11 p.m. on Aug. 4, according to a state Department of Public Safety press release issued the morning after they escaped.
Police found Pongasi-Adric a few days later at a residence in Anahola, where he surrendered without incident, according to a Kauai Police Department press release.
Kelekoma was on the lam for nearly two weeks until KPD officers spotted him at a makeshift campsite in an open field in Anahola. Police say he fled the scene on a moped, but officers eventually tracked him to a house in Kapaa, where they found him standing outside with family members and made the arrest without further incident.
At the time of the escape, Pongasi-Adric and Kelekoma were awaiting trial in unrelated cases.
Pongasi-Adric was being held in connection with a felony for allegedly stealing a car in December 2018. Nearly a dozen charges were pending against Kelekoma for a series of physical and verbal assaults he allegedly committed against a woman in his home between mid-April and the end of May.
•••
Caleb Loehrer, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0441 or cloehrer@thegardenisland.com.
