A group of 21 travelers arrested and charged on suspicion of violating Hawaii’s coronavirus quarantine order have agreed to leave the state because of threats from residents, a member of the group said today.
Kendra Carter, a member of a group known on social media as Carbon Nation, said some of the harassment involved death threats.
“We’ve been getting death threats in our in-boxes,” Carter said. “People telling us to get the (expletive) off the island.”
Carter wasn’t arrested with the others last week because police decided to let her and another woman stay with their children.
Arresting them would have meant calling Child Welfare Services, which would have meant exposing more people, police Lt. Rio Amon-Wilkins said.
The group members, who have spent two years traveling Central America and were ejected from Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama, are misunderstood, Carter said.
“People like to call us a cult because we like to live a certain lifestyle,” she said about their vegan diet and a belief that “everybody is different shades of brown.”
The group’s 38-year-old leader, Eligio Bishop, who has described himself as a cult leader, is scheduled to appear in court again today.
This story will be updated. See Tuesday’s edition of the Tribune-Herald.