A 24-year-old Hilo man accused of stealing an ambulance Friday afternoon from Hilo Medical Center had just been discharged from the emergency room when the vehicle was taken, according to court documents filed by police. ADVERTISING A 24-year-old Hilo man
A 24-year-old Hilo man accused of stealing an ambulance Friday afternoon from Hilo Medical Center had just been discharged from the emergency room when the vehicle was taken, according to court documents filed by police.
It’s unknown why Maksim Stasyuk was at the hospital. Police said the emergency vehicle, worth about $100,000, was swiped from the ER entrance. The ambulance, owned by American Medical Response, was recovered on Leilani Street near the Hilo landfill less than an hour later.
Police Lt. Miles Chong said the keys were in the vehicle when it was taken.
According to police, the ambulance crashed through a locked gate belonging to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, causing about $2,000 damage to the gate and less than $500 damage to the rear bumper of the ambulance.
An AMR official said an no equipment or supplies were taken from the ambulance.
Stasyuk pranced in and out of the courtroom during his initial appearance Monday on charges of first-degree theft and third- and fourth-degree property damage, smiling, sticking his tongue out and mugging.
Deputy Public Defender Austin Hsu requested Stasyuk be freed on supervised release or that his $36,000 bail be reduced, noting that one property damage charge is a misdemeanor and the other a petty misdemeanor.
Deputy Prosecutor Glenn Shiigi asked that bail be maintained, telling Hilo District Judge Michael Udovic that Stasyuk “endangered the public by taking that ambulance out of service for the period that he had that ambulance in his possession.”
Udovic reduced Stasyuk’s bail to $25,000 and ordered him to return for a preliminary hearing at 2 p.m. today.
In addition, a man and woman arrested by a newly formed police auto theft task force also made their initial appearances Monday on charges unrelated to the ambulance theft.
Juanita Grammer and Bronson-Lee Oili, both 28 and of Pahoa, were arrested on outstanding bench warrants Wednesday while sitting inside a stolen vehicle at a Hawaiian Beaches home, according to police. Police said the car was reported stolen July 11 from a Hawaiian Paradise Park home.
According to court documents filed by police, a search of the vehicle turned up a loaded, sawed-off New Haven Mossman 20 gauge shotgun and ammunition.
Grammer was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, possessing a prohibited weapon and driving a stolen vehicle.
Oili was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Udovic maintained Grammer’s $45,000 bail and Oili’s $10,000 bail and ordered both to appear at 2 p.m. Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
