A Hilo couple police say watched beachgoers at Honolii Beach Park to see where hid their vehicle keys and then stole the vehicles, plus wallets with IDs and credit cards — including a truck belonging to a Vietnam War veteran and his wife plus IDs and a credit card belonging to the veteran — appeared Monday in Hilo District Court.
Judge Kanani Laubach ordered 22-year-old Travis Anzai and 23-year-old Shanlia Baker-Sigler to appear for a preliminary hearing at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Anzai is charged with second-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, possession of drug paraphernalia, two firearms offenses, two counts of second-degree theft, fourth-degree theft, eight counts of theft of a credit card and 18 counts of unauthorized possession of confidential personal information.
Baker-Sigler is charged with promoting a dangerous drug, possession of drug paraphernalia, two counts of unauthorized control of a stolen vehicle, three counts of second-degree theft, eight counts of credit card theft, 18 counts of unauthorized possession of confidential personal information and single counts of third- and fourth-degree theft.
The offenses are alleged to have taken place between May 18 and Aug. 22.
According to court documents filed by police, officers executed a search warrant on Anzai’s and Baker-Sigler’s home on Laukapu Street in Hilo’s Waiakea Houselots area. The search reportedly turned up 13.1 grams of heroin, a digital scale and Ziplock packets, a Mastercard and government issued ID cards belonging to the 69-year-old veteran which he told police were taken from his 2009 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, which was also stolen, plus a key fob for a 2010 Nissan Frontier with a wallet belonging to its owner, items including a driver’s license stolen from a 2014 Honda Accord plus an iPhone X and Visa card taken from a stolen rental Jeep Wrangler.
Officer Thomas Chun-Ming said the investigation leading to the couple’s arrest was a team effort involving the community and the police.
“Information that we obtained in the investigation stemmed from Craigslist, where the suspects posted some of the stolen property and one of the victims was able to identify the stolen property through social media posts,” Chun-Ming said.
Chun-Ming said in some cases the vehicle owners or drivers used magnetic key holders, hid keys under the bumper, in bed liners of trucks and in some instances left the vehicles unlocked and keys in the cup holder. He said those vehicles “became easy targets for the suspects.”
He said the public should “take preventive measures in safeguarding their property and vehicles.”
The veteran’s brother told the Tribune-Herald the veteran “voluntarily served our county” and is “a church-going man who has probably already forgiven” the alleged thieves.
“He loves to surf and was just enjoying a day at the beach,” the veteran’s brother said.
He added the alleged thieves “have taken away his transportation and made things harder for him to get around.”
Anzai has an unrelated second-degree burglary case from a year ago still in Hilo Circuit Court and was out on $11,000 bail when the alleged Honolii offenses occurred. His next court date in that case is schedued for 8:30 p.m. Sept. 10 before Judge Henry Nakamoto.
Laubach declined to lower bail for either Anzai or Baker-Sigler and ordered Anzai, should he be released to stay away from the veteran, his wife and five other alleged victims.
Baker-Sigler has no prior felony convictions.
Anzai pleaded guilty on Dec. 19, 2016, to first-degree terroristic threatening, a Class C felony. In return for his plea, prosecutors dropped another first-degree terroristic threatening charge, two firearms offenses and a single count of underage drinking.
Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara, who’s since retired, sentenced Anzai to a year in jail with 11 months suspended. He also accepted a deferral of Anzai’s guilty plea for four years, which would’ve erased the conviction. It doesn’t appear a charge of violating the deferred plea has been filed.
Both suspects remain in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center, Anzai in lieu of $307,010 bail and Baker-Sigler in lieu of $157,030 bail.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.