Police have charged a 37-year-old Hilo man with several offenses for allegedly stealing a state truck from a repair shop in Hilo in July.
Police have charged a 37-year-old Hilo man with several offenses for allegedly stealing a state truck from a repair shop in Hilo in July.
On July 5 at about 7:06 a.m., police responded to a Pohaku Street repair shop after employees discovered that a vehicle being repaired, a Ford pickup truck registered to the State of Hawaii, was missing. Police recovered surveillance footage from the business.
On Oct. 3 at about 4:50 p.m., the same truck was allegedly involved in a separate theft incident and was recovered by police. Detectives continued the investigation after uncovering evidence leading them to believe the truck was stolen.
Detectives worked with agents from the National Insurance Crime Bureau and were able to verify that the vehicle identification number plate and license plate were from another Ford truck. Detectives were then able to identify the truck as the one that had been stolen from the repair shop.
At 12:15 p.m. Wednesday, after conferring with prosecutors, police charged Eddie Paaluhi Poai with two counts of first-degree unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, fraudulent use of a license plate and altering a motor vehicle serial number. His bail was set at $22,000. He was scheduled to make his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon.