Two men have been arrested and charged with numerous offenses following a break-in at a Kailua-Kona resort.
Two men have been arrested and charged with numerous offenses following a break-in at a Kailua-Kona resort.
At 2 a.m. Saturday, Kona Patrol officers responded to a report of a burglary at a resort off Alii Drive near Walua Road. A 33-year-old California man reported that he returned to the resort and discovered that items, including his rental car key, had been removed from his hotel room. The car was gone from the parking lot.
Police investigation led to the identity of two suspects, both of whom have no permanent address but frequent the Kailua-Kona area.
At 5:45 p.m. Saturday, police arrested the first suspect, 20-year-old Sloan Kalau DeLeon, for contempt of court and on a no-bail warrant for violating probation. They took him to the Kona police cellblock while Kona police detectives continued to investigate the burglary.
At 2 a.m. Sunday, police arrested the second suspect, 27-year-old Leo Isamu Corpuz, who was in possession of the stolen rental car and numerous pieces of mail belonging to other persons. The car’s license plate had been removed and replaced with a stolen license plate. Corpuz was taken to the cellblock while detectives investigated.
At 3 p.m. Monday, Corpuz was charged with burglary, unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, six counts of theft, two counts of theft/forgery of a credit card, eight counts of unauthorized possession of personal information, fraudulent use of a motor vehicle license plate and driving without a license. His bail was set at $143,000.
Around the same time, DeLeon was charged with burglary, second-degree theft, promoting a dangerous drug and possessing drug paraphernalia. His bail for those offenses was set at $11,000.
Both men were scheduled to make their initial court appearance Tuesday (June 24).
Police urge the public to take the following steps to protect against theft of mail:
• Use mailboxes with locks.
• Be familiar with mail pickup and delivery times.
• Retrieve mail as soon as possible after it is delivered.
• Place outgoing mail in the box as close as possible to pickup time.
• Consider renting a Post Office Box.
Police stress that stolen mail can be used to steal a person’s identity and and to commit financial crimes that can be devastating to the victims.