Officers honored for bust of parolee with drugs and a firearm

The Aloha Exchange Club honored two police officers as “Officers of the Month” for January

Hilo Patrol Officers Christopher Fukumoto Gibson Kahele were honored for turning a traffic stop into an arrest for gun- and drug-offenses. In the late evening of Jan. 22, Fukumoto, a four-year-veteran saw a sedan stopped in the left-turn lane toward Hilo International Airport on Kanoelehua Avenue, with the driver sleeping and the engine running.

According to police, Fukumoto determined the driver, 43-year-old Cory George Young, was driving after his license was revoked and arrested him.

Kahele, a six-year veteran who responded as backup, reportedly saw what appeared to be the handle of a handgun protruding from beneath the front driver’s seat. A search warrant was served on the car by detectives, and turned up a loaded .22 caliber handgun, more than 2.17 pounds of methamphetamine, 21.4 grams of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, police said.

Young, a convicted felon, was charged with violating parole. He’s also been indicted for first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, attempted first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, marijuana possession, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony drug offense, carrying a loaded firearm on a public roadway, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, illegally carrying ammunition, and driving without a license.