A pair of Papaikou men are facing charges in separate incidents of alleged agricultural theft from the same farm.
Jan Loren Aguinaldo, 35, and Timothy Kekoa Guiteras, 49, made their initial appearances Monday in Hilo District Court.
Aguinaldo is charged with second-degree theft, habitual property crime and fourth-degree property damage.
Guiteras is charged with a single-count of second-degree theft.
Judge Jeffrey Hawk maintained bail amounts for both men — Aguinaldo at $40,000 and Guiteras at $5,000 — and ordered them to appear for a preliminary hearing Wednesday. Hawk also ruled that their cases will be heard together.
According to court documents filed by police, the property manager of Hawaii Sunshine Orchards in Papaikou reportedly saw Aguinaldo — whom the manager recognized from previous encounters — trespassing on the farm in the early evening of March 5. The manager made a cellphone video of Aguinaldo standing next to a rambutan tree with two bags filled with about 30 pounds of rambutan valued at $150.
The manager also noted two rambutan trees with its branches cut and signs the fruit had been taken from the branches, police said.
Upon being confronted, Aguinaldo allegedly fled with the stolen fruit. An all-points-bulletin was issued, and Aguinaldo was arrested Friday afternoon at his home, according to the documents.
Then, in the early evening on Saturday, the same property manager and two of his farm workers saw a grey Nissan Murano parked along the shoulder of the road by the farm with its rear hatch open and a duffel bag with 56.5 pounds of bananas in the trunk area, plus a second pile of bananas weighing 137.1 pounds on the ground nearby, the documents state.
At $1 per pound, the bananas were valued at $193.60, police said.
One of the workers conducted a check of the farm and saw a man chopping a banana tree, according to documents. The man, who was identified as Guiteras by a temporary driver’s license within the Murano, fled on foot toward Hilo.
Police later apprehended Guiteras walking toward Hilo.
Aguinaldo has two prior felony convictions, both for agricultural theft from the same farm, and Guiteras has a single felony conviction for a firearms offense in 2019.
Second-degree theft and habitual property crime are both Class C felony offenses that carry a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
