Police arrested a 50-year-old Kurtistown man wanted on an all-points bulletin, but not before he called the Tribune-Herald to say complaining witnesses lied about him brandishing a handgun during a Friday evening confrontation. ADVERTISING Police arrested a 50-year-old Kurtistown man
Police arrested a 50-year-old Kurtistown man wanted on an all-points bulletin, but not before he called the Tribune-Herald to say complaining witnesses lied about him brandishing a handgun during a Friday evening confrontation.
Lt. Greg Esteban of the Hilo Criminal Investigations Section said late Tuesday afternoon William James Chase was arrested without incident at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday at the Hawaiian Acres Community Center.
“It was actually an arranged meeting,” Esteban said. “And that meeting was facilitated by our Special Enforcement Unit.”
Esteban said SEU is an internal CIS unit comprised of detectives and patrol officers on temporary assignment.
“They were actively looking for him,” Esteban said. “They established contact with him and that’s how they set the arrangement up.”
Chase was booked on suspicion of first-degree burglary and four counts of first-degree terroristic threatening.
“He remains in custody in the (Hilo police) cellblock and detectives in the Criminal Investigation Section will be continuing the investigation,” Esteban said.
Although the all-points bulletin described Chase as “armed and dangerous” and the complainants reportedly said he brandished a handgun, Esteban said no weapon has been found.
Chase told the Tribune-Herald on Tuesday morning he was “very scared” and conflicted about whether to turn himself in. He said his wife left him while he was incarcerated for a probation revocation warrant from 1998 that showed up during a traffic stop July 31 and resulted in his arrest. Chase said friends of his wife and his wife’s son took his belongings from his house while he was jailed, and added his wife “blew my car up on purpose because she didn’t want it to go nowhere.”
The probation was from a 1993 conviction for felony criminal property damage.
According to court records, Chase hasn’t had a felony conviction since, and at an Aug. 3 hearing, Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura set up a hearing on the motion to revoke his probation and granted him supervised release.
On Friday, police received a 7:48 p.m. report of an armed burglary at an Uau Road home in Hawaiian Acres. Police say Chase forced his way into the home with a handgun and threatened a 44-year-old woman and two teenagers.
On Saturday morning, police put out an APB on Chase, saying he was armed with a handgun and driving a Toyota pickup, license number KAX 877.
Chase admitted going to the home, but said he did so to reclaim his property.
“They stole every frickin’ thing out of my house,” Chase said. “Her (Chase’s wife) and her son and had their friends over there and they took a bunch of my stuff. And the neighbor came over and said, ‘Yeah, she was trying to give us the toilet paper and every g——— thing. So basically from there, me and my son and my friend went up to their house. I told them to go down there and get my stuff. They went down there and they got some of their stuff. And our outdoor lights and stuff, the kid said they didn’t have ’em. And somebody up the road shot a gun. And it wasn’t me. It was up the road, way up the road. They thought it was me.
“The mother at the house they were staying in, they sent the lights out, you know the ones they didn’t have. That’s all good. When they came up to the truck … I told them, ‘I ain’t even playin’. Go back down there and give me my s—-.”
Chase said he then went down to the house because he thought more of his belongings were there.
“There’s this kid Alika. He’s downstairs,” he said. “Everybody else is upstairs. I pushed him because he’s mouthin’ off at me, like ‘F—- you,’ this and that. So, right there, I kind of pushed him and started yellin’ at him and everybody came downstairs. I said, ‘You’re all (expletives), man.’ Give me my frickin’ s—- and bring it out. They laughed and s—-. I told them they had a couple of days to give me my stuff. I didn’t go down there to fight nobody. I only pushed that boy because he was mouthing off at me. That would be the extent of it.”
Chase denied reports he was armed during the confrontation and said he thought the alleged victims took his belongings to trade or sell for drugs.
“These kids took my s—-,” he said. “I don’t have no gun. If I had one, I’d retaliate. That’s my style. I know it’s not right, but why should I be locked up when it’s these (expletives) stealin’ my s—-?”
Police showed up in force Saturday afternoon, including the department’s Special Response Team, at Chase’s Road B home in Hawaiian Acres.
“I’m gettin’ calls like mad, ‘There’s SWAT around your house.’ … And there are negotiation teams negotiating with my dog,” Chase said. “People are wanted for a lot worse things and they don’t send the SWAT team after them.”
Lt. Thomas Shopay, the SRT commander, said Tuesday afternoon the decision to call in his team was made by Puna Patrol “based on information they had at that particular time, what they perceive as a threat.”
Chase said before turning himself in he was worried about what might happen to him in custody and the length of time he could face behind bars.
“I’m gonna get locked up no matter what,” he said. “I’m 50 years old. They’re talkin’ about I got a gun. That’s 20 years. S—-, I’m gonna be 70.”
First-degree burglary is a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment, while first-degree terroristic threatening is a Class C felony carrying a possible five-year prison term.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
