A 19-year-old Mountain View man has a Monday court date to face several felony charges, less than three weeks after being released from jail on felony probation.
Kahekili John Krause was charged Friday with driving a stolen vehicle, third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, possession of drug paraphernalia, second-degree unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, second-degree criminal trespass and two counts of habitual property crimes.
According to police, officers responded Wednesday to a report of a man unconscious in the driver’s seat of a pickup truck on a roadway in Hawaiian Acres subdivision in Puna.
At 12:32 p.m. Wednesday, police took Krause into custody after discovering the truck had been reported stolen from a business in Shipman Industrial Park in Keaau the previous weekend. Krause also was arrested on a warrant detectives secured that morning for a Feb. 3 trespassing incident at a Kurtistown home.
Officers later executed a search warrant on the truck and found two “ice” pipes and other evidence within, police said.
According to court records, Krause pleaded guilty Jan. 19 to first-degree theft, first-degree burglary, two counts of second-degree burglary and recklessly resisting an order to stop a motor vehicle, all felonies.
He was sentenced by Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura to a year probation and 18 months in jail with credit for time served and the remainder taken under advisement.
Krause was released from Hawaii Community Correctional Center on Jan. 26, according to the state Department of Public Safety website.
Police say Krause was part of a ring that committed a “rash of auto thefts” in January 2017. The spree included the brazen theft of brand-new cars, mostly high-performance sport sedans used for illegal street racing, from dealership lots in Hilo and Kona.
The convictions were Krause’s first as an adult, but his record as a minor included a 2015 escape from juvenile correctional authorities in which he spent about a week on the lam.
Krause is being held at the Hilo police cellblock in lieu of $63,000 bail pending Monday’s initial appearance in Hilo District Court.
Anyone with information about the current alleged offenses is asked to contact the police non-emergency line at 935-3311 or Crime Stoppers at 961-8300.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.