A 35-year-old man facing drug and firearms charges had more than 1.4 pounds of methamphetamine and an arsenal in his Hilo home, according to court documents.
Keola Batalona faces charges of first- and second-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, second-degree marijuana possession, possession of drug paraphernalia and 12 counts of prohibited possession of firearms.
Police served a search warrant Saturday on Batalona’s Piihonua Road home. In addition to the methamphetamine, officers also allegedly found more than one-third of an ounce of cocaine and almost 3.7 ounces of marijuana, in addition to 11 firearms and ammunition.
According to police, the confiscated drugs have a street value of about $89,435.
During Batalona’s initial appearance Tuesday in Hilo District Court, Deputy Public Defender Isaac Ickes requested Batalona be granted supervised release or a reduction of his $376,250 bail.
Ickes called the $25,000 bail for each firearms offense “unusually high” since Batalona has no prior felony convictions.
“I do understand the amount of counts, as well as the nature of the conduct alleged, may give the court some pause,” Ickes noted.
Deputy Prosecutor Jared Auna noted that a domestic abuse conviction in 2002 made it illegal for Batalona to own firearms in Hawaii and asked that Batalona’s bail be increased to $500,000.
“One of the allegations of one of the firearms is that it is an Israeli .22-caliber Uzi rifle, and this is an extremely dangerous weapon,” Auna said.
Judge Harry Freitas eliminated the $250 bail for the paraphernalia charge, making Batalona’s total bail $376,000, and ordered him to return at 2 p.m. Thursday for a preliminary hearing.
“My understanding is that he had about a pound of meth in his possession, along with 12 firearms. Definitely not a good combination. That makes me very concerned about our community,” Freitas said.
In addition to the Uzi, court documents state Batalona also had a Marlin .22-caliber rifle, Maverick 12-gauge shotgun, Winchester .30-30 rifle, Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun, Ruger Mini-14 rifle, Savage Axis rifle, three Smith &Wesson pistols, Rohm .22-caliber pistol and numerous rounds of live ammunition.
A 28-year-old Hilo woman, Kaylynn Revilla, was arrested with Batalona, but she was released from custody without being charged pending further investigation.
Batalona remained in custody late Tuesday at Hawaii Community Correctional Center.
Email John Burnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
How could he possibly have had all those firearms when he was prohibited by law from possessing any of them? I think this proves that we need more “gun control” laws. If it had been “illegaler” he surely would not have acquired any weapons. Nor sold illegal drugs. We need more “drug control” laws too.
Criminals ALWAYS find a way to get guns no matter what the laws and the gun laws are already draconian in Hawaii so no, no more gun control..period
Mr, Auna,,doesn’t know much about guns, there is no such thing as a “.22 ca.uzi rifle” an extremely dangerous weapon Auna said, what he probably had was an .22 cal. semi auto imitation uzi, which are legal, any .22 cal gun is the least powerful gun made, you don’t hunt deer with them, his 12 gauge shot gun & his ruger mini m-14 are much more dangerous weapons, & is he really such a danger to the community, he wasn’t carrying these guns around in his car, he probably had them in his home for protection, there are plenty of people that will kill you for a pound of meth, the man is looking at enough prison time without Mr. Auna exaggerating things!
Extremely dangerous means that it can make a hole in a human body such that that human dies.
If a .22LR semi-automatic weapon is “extremely dangerous”, what adjectives would be appropriate for the .30-.30, the 5.56, or even the 12 gauges?
Deputy prosecutor Auna was arguing that the bail should be increased because this rifle was “extremely dangerous”. He’s wrong. It’s less “lethal” than most of the other weapons possessed by the suspect, including the handguns unless they were .22LR also.
Auna was also wrong in stating the the rifle is “Israeli”. It is/was manufactured in Germany by Umarex/Walther under license by IWI.
when will the spread of poison stop?
More guns BIG guns!