A Hilo judge maintained $215,000 bail Monday for a 36-year-old Mountain View woman accused of numerous drug offenses and assaulting a police officer.
Florelynn Ito is charged with first-degree promotion of a harmful drug, second-degree attempted promotion of a dangerous drug, two counts third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, first-degree attempted assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.
Police say they arrested Ito — who reportedly had three outstanding arrest warrants — after spotting her in front of a Mountain View business alone in the driver’s seat of a Toyota Tacoma that was subject to a “be on the lookout notice” after police recently tried to stop the vehicle, but the driver fled.
According to police, Ito refused to get out of the truck and attempted to reverse and flee.
Police say an officer reached into the truck in an attempt to turn off the vehicle, but Ito fought with the officer and tried to bite his forearm. The officer allegedly saw a zip packet he thought contained narcotics on the driver’s seat, and other officers arrived and helped him subdue Ito, remove her from the truck and arrest her.
According to police, a search warrant for the truck turned up more than 2 grams of powdered fentanyl, along with 151 buprenorphine naloxone pills, a semi-synthetic opioid.
In addition to maintaining Ito’s bail, Hilo District Judge Jeffrey Hawk ordered her to return at 2 p.m. today for a preliminary hearing.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated drug case, county Prosecutor Kelden Waltjen said in a statement a Kailua-Kona judge on Monday reduced bail — from $50,000 to $5,000 — for a 35-year-old Kailua-Kona man who allegedly brought more than 3/4 of an ounce of fentanyl into the state.
Kona District Judge Kimberly Tsuchiya ordered Dorian Thompson to return Tuesday for a preliminary hearing, but court minutes state Thompson refused to be transported from Hawaii Community Correctional Center or to appear via video.
The judge maintained Thompson’s bail at $5,000, reset the hearing for Feb. 22, and ordered the witnesses to return on that date.
Police say Thompson was arrested Friday afternoon after West Hawaii Vice officers and federal Homeland Security agents detained him at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Kealohe as he was deplaning from an inbound flight from the mainland.
Thompson consented to a search, according to police, and officers recovered 21.7 grams of suspected powdered fentanyl from a bag that he was carrying. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, 0.02 milligrams of powdered fentanyl is considered a fatal dose.
Thompson remains in custody at HCCC.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
