Maui mayor wants interisland travel quarantine restored
HONOLULU — Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino asked Gov. David Ige to reinstate a 14-day quarantine for interisland travelers amid a record number of new cases for the state.
Victorino said he submitted a formal request to Ige after a record 64 confirmed new coronavirus cases were tabulated throughout the state Friday.
A mandatory quarantine for travelers between the islands was rescinded June 16.
Record numbers of single-day cases were set Friday and Saturday. Saturday’s tally of 73 new infections superseded Friday’s record of 64 reported cases. Saturday was the third consecutive day the state set a record in new cases. The state also registered 64 new cases Sunday.
The number of Oahu infections has “been extremely high, and it’s passed some of the trigger points we have discussed at some of our meetings about stepping back if necessary,” Victorino told reporters Friday.
Hawaii man pleads guilty to cyberstalking Utah family
SALT LAKE CITY — A Hawaii man accused of tormenting a Utah family for more than a year by using the internet to send more than 500 people to their house for unwanted services including food deliveries, repairs, tow trucks, locksmiths, plumbers and prostitutes pleaded guilty Monday to one count of cyberstalking.
Loren Okamura, 44, entered the plea during a video conference hearing based out of U.S. District Court in Utah that capped off a case prosecutors called an “extreme” example of the darker and seedier side of modern technology.
Okamura’s online stalking in 2018-19 targeted a father and his adult daughter who live in a suburb of Salt Lake City, prosecutors alleged. He sent the woman threatening messages and posted her picture and address online, authorities said.
The Gilmore family had to enhance security around their house and lived in fear of the next unwanted person who would arrive, day or night, said their attorney, Nathan Crane.
Utah police went to the North Salt Lake house more than 80 times during a four-month period from November 2018-February 2019, leading the family to post a sign in the driveway that alerted anyone coming to provide services that it was a scam and to instead report it to police.
Prosecutors agreed to drop two additional charges — interstate threats and transporting people for prostitution — as part of an agreement that calls for Okamura to get credit for the eight months he’s spent in jail since his November arrest at a Honolulu supermarket. The deal calls for three years of supervised release and a return to Hawaii.
Okamura is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 5.
Prosecutors have said they have records from Okamura’s cellphone and Apple ID to support the charges.
Vanessa Ramos, his federal public defender in Utah, declined to comment after the hearing.