Kona man sentenced to 25 years for robbery, escape

A 29-year-old Kona man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for a November 2022 armed robbery and an April 2023 escape from the Hawaii Community Correctional Center.

Dyllan Paulo-Leslie was sentenced Feb. 28 in Hilo Circuit Court for the escape, according to county Prosecutor Kelden Waltjen. His five-year term will be served consecutive to a 20-year prison term for the robbery and property damage charges.

He was sentenced for those offenses June 25, 2024, in Kona Circuit Court, and started to serve his 25 years after the escape sentencing.

On Nov. 10, 2022, Paulo-Leslie brandished a firearm during a robbery at a restaurant on Kauhola Street in Kaloko Industrial Park.

Paulo-Leslie and a woman fled the scene in a Toyota Tacoma, which was collided with another vehicle at the intersection of Route 190 and Hina Lani Street. Paulo-Leslie then shot at a police officer responding to the traffic collision, striking the rear driver’s side tire of the officer’s police vehicle.

Paulo-Leslie was arrested a short time later at a residence on Old Mamalahoa Highway.

He pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and first-degree property damage in December 2023 in Kona Circuit Court.

On April 21, 2023, Paulo-Leslie escaped from HCCC by scaling a fence. He was apprehended by police the following day in a ravine abutting the Hilo High School campus and taken to Hilo Benioff Medical Center for treatment of injuries sustained during the escape.

First-degree robbery is a Class A felony offense which carries a maximum penalty of a 20-year prison term. First-degree property damage is a Class B felony offense which carries a maximum penalty of a 10-year prison term. Second-degree escape is a Class C felony offense which carries a maximum penalty of a five-year prison term.