Those in Fifth Circuit Court Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 23 and 24, included a couple charged with welfare fraud; a KCCC inmate facing charges of sex assault against a minor; a Kapa’a man accused of first-degree assault; and a man
Those in Fifth Circuit Court Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 23 and 24, included a couple charged with welfare fraud; a KCCC inmate facing charges of sex assault against a minor; a Kapa’a man accused of first-degree assault; and a man charged with marijuana and paraphernalia possession.
- Verrina Texeira, 31, and Michael A. Texeira, 42, of Kealia, were both arrested Dec. 20. On Dec. 19 at about 8 a.m., Michael Joseph Texeira and his girlfriend called police from their home in the Pu’u Ka’a subdivision of Kapahi to report that Texeira and his wife were violating a temporary restraining order.
An amended indictment was filed Oct. 29 charging the couple with second-degree theft and 30 total counts of falsifying welfare documents.
“I’m sentenced to death – what more can you give me?” Texeira asked of Judge Clifford L. Nakea, referring to his diagnosis of active Hepatitis C. He said his condition requires him to undergo continual treatment and he claimed he didn’t know there was a bench warrant outstanding for his arrest.
Texeira in 2001 failed to appear for a jury trial; charges included family abuse and terroristic threatening.
- Romel Gamoso Manzano, 27, appeared Monday, Dec. 23. Manzano was indicted Dec. 12 for first-and third-degree sexual assault on a teen-aged girl that involved intercourse and fondling. He was more than five years older than her; she was 14-16 years old at the time.
- Justin Stiles was arraigned Tuesday, Dec. 24 and pleaded not guilty to first-degree assault. Stiles is accused of causing “serious bodily injury” to Russell Matsuyama Jr., 21, who ended up in the hospital after his head was injured in a fight at Ahukini Pier in late August.
Matsuyama was reportedly taunting Stiles at one location, then parted ways. Police reports stated that later that night, around 3 a.m., they both coincidentally wound up at the pier, where a fight broke out. A jury trial was scheduled for Feb. 25.
- Aloysius Kahimoku Puulei-Chandler, 19, decided to plead guilty as charged to second-degree assault; in return, the prosecutor’s office would not object to probation and a deferred acceptance of guilty plea if Puulei-Chandler agrees to specified terms and conditions.
On Oct. 14, Puulei-Chandler was approached by Bryson Nishimoto about throwing rocks at his car, at about 7:30 p.m. in the parking lot of Big Save in Hanalei. Puulei-Chandler said he felt wrongly accused and punched Nishimoto four times and kicked him in the face, which caused facial fractures.
Puulei-Chandler will receive a decision on the motion to defer his guilty plea next March 13.
- Aaron Correia, arrested on a bench warrant for failing to appear in court Dec. 17, told the court that his family has hired a private attorney for his case, which involves marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession. Correia was indicted May 20 and arraigned May 24. A date for a new jury trial was set for next Feb. 10.
