A 35-year-old Pahoa man who allegedly threatened Pahoa McDonald’s employees on Jan. 20 while loudly demanding money has been indicted by a Hilo grand jury.
The three-count indictment returned Wednesday charges Rancey Sonny Kawika Lee with first-degree robbery, first-degree terroristic threatening, and second-degree trespassing.
A bench warrant accompanying the indictment set Lee’s bail at $40,000.
According to court documents filed by police, officers responded at about 1:11 p.m. Jan. 20 to a report of an active robbery at the fast food restaurant in the Puna Kai Shopping Center.
Employees told officers that a man had entered the restaurant dressed in a green camouflage jacket, beige shorts, wearing a face mask and brandishing a wrench in his left hand and a screwdriver in his right, documents state.
The man allegedly went behind the restaurant’s counter and yelled, “Give me my f—-ing money! Where is my money?”
He reportedly left the establishment, however, without receiving money and prior to the arrival of police.
The complaint names six individuals as victims. According to police, none of the employees were injured.
Officers arrested Lee a short time later walking along Pahoa Village Road and, according to the documents, identified him as the suspect from the shopping center’s surveillance video.
Lee had been served a trespassing notice by Puna Kai’s security personnel in April 2022 directing him to stay away from the shopping center for a year, according to the documents.
Lee allegedly consented to a search and was in possession of an 8-inch crescent wrench and a pair of scissors. He also reportedly told officers he meant to scare employees for the thrill and hoped one would fight him, but none did.
Lee originally was charged with second-degree robbery, and his initial bail was $36,000.
In his initial court appearance on Monday, Hilo District Judge Jeffrey Hawk dropped the trespassing charge, finding the complaint was defective. He also reduced bail for Lee — who has no prior felony convictions — to $7,000.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Wednesday, but the indictment moved the case to Hilo Circuit Court. It also increased the bail to $40,000 and the second-degree robbery charge to first-degree robbery, a Class A felony that carries a potential 20-year prison sentence. The trespassing charge was also reinstated by the grand jury.
Lee, who hadn’t been rearrested for the indictment as of Thursday morning, remains in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
