A Hilo grand jury indicted two individuals earlier this month for unrelated cases of habitual drunken driving. ADVERTISING A Hilo grand jury indicted two individuals earlier this month for unrelated cases of habitual drunken driving. Charged in separate two-count indictments
A Hilo grand jury indicted two individuals earlier this month for unrelated cases of habitual drunken driving.
Charged in separate two-count indictments dated Feb. 1 are 49-year-old Cully K. Wroblewski of Hilo and 38-year-old Kepola D. Araujo Keliikuli of Pahoa.
A police spokeswoman said Wednesday Wroblewski was arrested for DUI and driving after his license had been suspended or revoked late on the night of Feb. 19, 2016, at the corner of Ululani and Ponahawai streets in Hilo after a police detective saw him on Komohana Street striking traffic cones and barricades and then turning onto Ponahawai. The spokeswoman said the patrol officer who pulled Wroblewski over smelled alcohol on his breath.
Wroblewski’s driver’s license was administratively suspended for five years following the incident, court records state.
He appeared for arraignment and plea Wednesday in Hilo Circuit Court, but did so without an attorney. Judge Greg Nakamura instructed him to go to the Office of the Public Defender and to come back to court at 9 a.m. March 15.
According to court records, Wroblewski was convicted for DUI three times in the decade preceding his arrest. He pleaded no contest to DUI charges on April 12, 2006, March 8, 2009, and October 13, 2013, and he has a lengthy record of traffic crimes and infractions dating back to the 1990s.
He is free on $2,500 bail.
The police spokeswoman said Araujo Keliikuli was arrested between 9:30 and 10 p.m. May 27 for DUI and marijuana possession after she allegedly drove a minivan into a front yard on 9th Avenue in Hawaiian Paradise Park, struck a rock and got stuck. Alcohol was reportedly detected on her breath. Her license was administratively suspended for 10 years following the incident, court records state.
Araujo Keliikuli also pleaded no contest to three counts of DUI and a second-degree negligent injury charge on March 27, 2014, with another DUI charge dropped, apparently as part of a plea deal. In addition, she pleaded no contest to DUI on July 9, 2007, according to court records.
She also received a 10-year administrative revocation of her license after a DUI arrest on Jan. 16, 2014, and has a lengthy record of traffic crimes and infractions dating back to the 1990s.
Wroblewski and Araujo Keliikuli have received five-day jail sentences for previous DUI convictions. Habitual DUI is a Class C felony carrying a potential five-year prison term upon conviction.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
