Bandit heads to prison again
HONOLULU — A 64-year-old bandit who said during his sentencing that he views robbing banks as “going to work” must spend more than 15 years in federal prison.
Wallace Silva went on a crime spree that included robbing 10 Hawaii banks of about $30,000 in 2016, U.S. prosecutors said Monday.
In a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to four robberies and must pay restitution for all 10 holdups.
Silva was sentenced in 1997 to about nine years for robbing a bank. Five days after completing that sentence, he began robbing more banks and was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison in 2007 for four holdups, prosecutors say.
Four months after completing that sentence, he committed the robberies for which he was sentenced this month.
He said during his hearing that robbing banks was like “going to work.”
Tellers told authorities the bandit wore an aloha shirt during some of the robberies and walked with a waddle.
Retired major wants separate trial in corruption case
HONOLULU — A retired Honolulu police major wants to be tried separately in a corruption case involving the department’s former chief.
Gordon Shiraishi is included in an indictment against former chief Louis Kealoha, his deputy prosecutor wife, Katherine Kealoha, and other police officers.
The indictment accuses the former and current police officers of helping the Kealohas frame a man. Katherine Kealoha also is accused of bilking money from relatives, banks and two children whose trust she controlled.
Shiraishi’s motion says he’s only charged with one count of obstruction for allegedly lying to a grand jury about the reported theft of the Kealohas’ home mailbox.
Defense attorney Lars Isaacson said Tuesday his client shouldn’t have been lumped into the indictment against the Kealohas.
The defendants in the case pleaded not guilty.
2nd-largest retail company buys shopping centers
HONOLULU — Hawaii’s second-largest retail property owner announced it bought three shopping centers on different islands for $254 million.
Alexander & Baldwin Inc. bought the properties as part of a strategy to accumulate retail property throughout Hawaii while selling its mainland real estate holdings.
The three centers are Laulani Village on Oahu, Pu‘unene Shopping Center on Maui and Hokulei Village on Kauai.
A&B said the 175,000-square-foot Laulani Village in Ewa Beach is 95 percent leased with tenants that include Safeway, City Mill, Ross Stores, Petco, Buffalo Wild Wings and Teddy’s Bigger Burgers.
Pu‘unene Center in Kahului was built last year with 113,000 square feet of space occupied by Target, Petco and a Planet Fitness club slated to open next month. Other tenants are leasing space.
Hokulei Village in Lihue is 103,000 square feet and 97 percent leased by tenants including Safeway, Petco and American Savings Bank.
A&B is using proceeds from sales of commercial properties on the mainland to pay for the three centers.
“The acquisition of these three centers enables us to complete the strategic migration of our commercial real estate portfolio from the U.S. mainland back to Hawaii,” said Chris Benjamin, A&B president and CEO, in a statement.
Since 2012, A&B has sold $400 million of mainland property and reinvested proceeds in Hawaii retail centers including Manoa Marketplace in Honolulu, Pearl Highlands Center in Pearl City, Oahu, and Waianae Mall in Waianae, Oahu.
The company, which originated as a sugar cane plantation operator in 1870, last year became a real estate investment trust that must convey at least 90 percent of profits to shareholders.