By JOHN BURNETT
By JOHN BURNETT
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Two people have been ordered by a judge to vacate a lower Kaumana home under Hawaii’s nuisance abatement civil law.
On Wednesday, Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara issued a 90-day temporary injunction ordering 48-year-old Dorbert Correa and his girlfriend, 28-year-old Malia Arakaki, to leave the house at 1068 Kaumana Drive owned by the Correa Family Trust.
Hara denied, at least for now, a request by County Prosecutor-elect Mitch Roth to evict several other people from the residence. They are: Doryal Correa, 45; Anetazha Correa, 33; Frank Eblacas Jr., 46; and Bernard Antoque, 31. The judge ruled that the evidence does not, at this point, tie them to any of the alleged drug dealing at the home.
The judge also scheduled an evidentiary hearing for a possible permanent court order on Jan. 11 at 8 a.m.
Roth told Hara that Dorbert Correa “is known to be a high-level methamphetamine distributor” and said that neighbors, including Correa’s stepmother, Barbara Correa, have complained about activities in the house. He referred to an affidavit by Hilo Vice Officer Kelly Moniz tying Correa and Arakaki to alleged drug dealing.
“Mr. Correa has admitted that he had been dealing plenty,” Roth said. “His girlfriend, Malia Arakaki, admitted that they’re dealing from the house. … There is drug dealing going on on the property. … Mr. Correa and Ms. Arakaki are the people in this residence that are pretty much causing the problems that are happening there.”
Correa’s 45-year-old sister, Doryal Correa, aka Doryal Kahaunaele, who is in custody awaiting trial on unrelated drug charges, called Roth’s allegations “very misleading.”
“My question is: ‘How credible is Malia Arakaki’s statement?’” she told the judge.
Dorbert Correa, who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2002 for third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, possessing drug paraphernalia, a firearms violation and numerous theft charges, disputed the prosecutor’s allegations.
“You know, we stay on that property and we get all those houses around. We don’t bother anybody and since we got in trouble, we stopped everything and we don’t do nothing, you know. And we don’t bother her (Barbara Correa),” he said. “… You can look up our front neighbor, and he don’t have no complaint with us, and I don’t know how we are bothering anybody. And we don’t have traffic over there. I have guys renting my rooms and that’s why I have lots of cars at the house.”
Dorbert Correa left the courtroom quickly after the judge’s ruling, muttering “hasta la vista” on his way out.
Roth, who was elected prosecutor Tuesday night by a razor-thin margin over county Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida, has successfully prosecuted a number of nuisance abatement cases involving alleged drug houses. He said afterwards that he’s pleased with the judge’s eviction of Dorbert Correa.
“Cut off the head of the snake and the snake dies,” Roth said. “… He’s allowing these people to be there, he and her. Without him there, inviting them, you don’t have a problem.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.