LIHU‘E — A Utah man pled no contest to violating three separate counts of COVID-19 quarantine regulations Tuesday morning in Fifth Circuit Court in Lihu’e.
David Barnes, 50, faces the maximum penalty of one year in jail for the separate counts and, as part of the plea agreement, will have a simple-trespassing violation dismissed with prejudice.
The three separate COVID-19 quarantine violations are part of the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes 127A-29, which pertain to COVID-19 emergency proclamations Barnes was alleged to have violated.
Barnes attended the hearing via Zoom.
He is currently being held at the O‘ahu Community Correctional Center after being transferred from the Kaua‘i Community Correctional Center in early February to receive treatment for a condition the Dept. of Public Safety was unable to reveal by law.
According to previous Kaua‘i Police Department releases, Barnes did not have lodging in place when he arrived, and made reservations at the Sheraton Kaua‘i Coconut Beach Resort in Waipouli. Officials allowed him to leave the airport after the reservations were confirmed.
Barnes then proceeded to leave the airport on foot, and reportedly walked to Costco Wholesale, where he completed his shopping.
KPD arrested him that same day. According to the KPD, he was released on $1,000 bail and required to complete his travel quarantine.
In one TikTok video dated Dec. 31, Barnes filmed a KPD officer driving him to his lodgings for the rest of his quarantine. In the video, Barnes claims he spent two days in a jail cell and one day at KCCC, where he was placed into solitary confinement before being released.
Barnes then checked in to the Kaua‘i Inn in Niumalu for the remainder of his quarantine, which at that point would have been another week.
Barnes’ TikTok account shows 83 videos posted since Dec. 28, many of which he tags KPD.
In several of the TikToks, Barnes verbally attacks the KPD and its officers and makes disrespectful references to the island.
Barnes is scheduled to be sentenced on March 18.
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Jason Blasco, reporter, can be reached at 245-0437 or jblasco@thegardenisland.com.
What happened at his sentencing?