Bail has been reduced for a 29-year-old Kailua-Kona man facing charges in connection with an alleged armed kidnapping involving a minor at Honaunau Elementary School and an unrelated burglary at the Dolphin Bay Hotel in Hilo.
Christopher Estoy is charged with kidnapping, custodial interference, second-degree unlawful imprisonment, and first-degree terroristic threatening for the Aug. 24 incident at the school and first-degree burglary for the hotel burglary. According to police, Kona patrol officers responded to the reported incident at the school and determined Estoy had entered the campus and followed a student into a restroom.
Estoy, who was reportedly in possession of a weapon, closed the restroom door, restricting the juvenile from exiting. Shortly after, an adult who was in the immediate area heard a commotion and was able to open the restroom door, and the juvenile was able to escape. According to county Prosecutor Kelden Waltjen, Estoy has a prior felony kidnapping conviction.
Court records indicate he also has an unresolved felony burglary and misdemeanor case in Kona Circuit Court and was out on court-supervised release without monetary bail when the new alleged offenses occurred. Prosecutors originally set Estoy’s bail on the new offenses at $125,000. At Estoy’s initial court appearance Monday, Deputy Public Defender Rachel Thompson asked Kona District Judge Kimberly Taniyama to decrease Estoy’s bail, while Deputy Prosecutor Charles Murray objected and requested bail be maintained at the level set by prosecutors. Taniyama reduced Estoy’s bail from $125,000 to $10,000.
The judge also ordered Estoy to return to Kona District Court today for a preliminary hearing about the alleged kidnapping incident, and to Hilo Circuit Court on Wednesday for the alleged burglary. The most serious offense, kidnapping, is a Class A felony with a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment. First-degree burglary is a Class B felony that carries a potential 10-year prison term.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.