KAILUA-KONA — A 30-year-old Hilo man charged in connection with a Tuesday bank robbery in South Kona will appear in court Monday. ADVERTISING KAILUA-KONA — A 30-year-old Hilo man charged in connection with a Tuesday bank robbery in South Kona
KAILUA-KONA — A 30-year-old Hilo man charged in connection with a Tuesday bank robbery in South Kona will appear in court Monday.
Police detectives charged Russell Risshi Monlux at 12:45 p.m. Friday with first-degree robbery, second-degree theft and second-degree terroristic threatening stemming from the Tuesday incident at the American Savings Bank branch in Kealakekua.
He remains in police custody in lieu of $37,000 bail.
Monlux is slated to appear Monday in Kona District Court where he can either demand a preliminary hearing where the state must prove it has probable cause to support the charges, or waive that right, sending the case to Circuit Court for possible trial.
Police allege Monlux entered the bank around 3 p.m. Tuesday and passed a note to a teller demanding cash before fleeing on foot toward North Kona. Criminal Investigations Section Lt. Gerald Wike on Friday declined to provide an amount taken during the hold-up. However, based upon the charge of second-degree theft, the amount taken would have exceeded $750.
Police said the note stated Monlux had a weapon, however, officers did not locate one at the scene or on Monlux when he was arrested shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday at Kona International Airport.
It was an anonymous tip from the public that led police to Monlux, said Wike. Within an hour of the robbery, police had posted two bank surveillance images of the suspect requesting the public’s help to find him.
“All of the leads came from the community, and we had a tip that he was at the airport,” said Capt. Chad Basque, who oversees the Kona Criminal Investigation Division. “Our detective went down to the airport and found him on the north end.”
First-degree robbery, a Class A felony, is punishable by up to $25,000 in fines and up to 20 years incarceration without the possibility of probation or a suspended sentence. Second-degree theft is a Class C felony that carries a maximum fine of $10,000 and up to five years in jail while second-degree terroristic threatening is a misdemeanor that could result in a max fine of $2,000 and up to one year in jail.
