The Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawaii recently honored Puna Patrol Officers Eddie Cardines and Whitman McCallum as Officers of the Month for July and Vice Officer Zenas Pacheco as Officer of the Month for August.
The Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawaii recently honored Puna Patrol Officers Eddie Cardines and Whitman McCallum as Officers of the Month for July and Vice Officer Zenas Pacheco as Officer of the Month for August.
Cardines and McCallum were saluted for their actions that led to the immediate capture of a triple-homicide suspect. Pacheco was commended for reducing the supply of methamphetamine in East Hawaii.
In the early hours of May 6, Cardines and McCallum were dispatched to a report of a possible gunshot victim in Leilani Estates. As they were trying to locate the house, McCallum noticed a vehicle leaving the area without its lights on. He alerted his fellow officers and attempted to make a traffic stop, but the driver evaded him and drove away. Cardines caught up with the vehicle a block away and made a felony traffic stop. After the suspect was apprehended, Cardines inspected the car, preserved critical evidence in danger of being washed away by a sudden downpour of rain, and made observations that ultimately led to the discovery of a woman’s body in the trunk.
Once the suspect had been secured, McCallum joined another officer to check the suspect’s house, where they discovered the bodies of two young children.
Sgt. Brandon Konanui said the actions of McCallum and Cardines led to the preservation of evidence and the “quick capture of a highly dangerous suspect.”
Pacheco’s award was the result of what acting Lt. Brian Miller described as the seizure of an “unheard of” amount of methamphetamine in East Hawaii.
“Within the past two months, Officer Pacheco has recovered approximately 6 pounds of methamphetamine, which was headed to high-level drug suppliers in East Hawaii,” Miller wrote in nomination papers.
In one case, a suspect who was in the custody of Hawaii Community Correctional Center had been distributing meth while out on work furlough. Pacheco recovered 11.5 ounces of the drug after executing a search warrant on the inmate’s car in June.
Pacheco developed enough information to conduct a joint operation with the Drug Enforcement Administration in July on the supplier of the man arrested in June. They recovered more than 5 pounds of meth, leading to the arrest of the supplier, who is facing a mandatory 10-year sentence to federal prison.
The East Hawaii Officer of the Month award is a project of the Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawaii.