Bail is $51K for Wailea robbery suspect
Victim identifies suspect as one of the men who attacked him
Staff Writer
WAILUKU — Bail was set at $51,000 for a Kahului man who was identified as a suspect in a robbery last month in the Shops at Wailea parking lot.
Maika Francis, 22, was arrested Monday after being turned in by his probation officer, police said.
At a preliminary hearing Thursday in Wailuku District Court, Ronald Wilson Jr. identified Francis as one of two men who assaulted Wilson and took his cellphone and bag March 31.
Wilson, 57, said he had gotten off work at Coldwell Banker Island Properties at 10 p.m. and walked to his car in the shopping center parking lot. He was putting his bag in the back seat when two men he didn’t know approached while saying something, Wilson said.
At first, “I thought they needed help,”
Wilson said.
“They sounded angry,” he testified. “The first one came up to me and said, ‘I’m going to take your stuff and f--- you up.’ I just looked at them and said, ‘No, you’re not.’ ”
Wilson said the men “came right up to me” so he could see them in the “fairly well-lit” parking lot.
“I yelled for security a couple of times,” he said. “Then I got punched in the side of the head. I went down.
“As I went down, I grabbed the ankle of the one closest to me — the taller one who punched me. I yelled again for security. I got punched again in the side of the head.”
Wilson said he was in “a lot of pain” and dropped his iPhone, car keys and glasses that were in his hand.
One robber picked up the phone and the other grabbed Wilson’s bag, which contained a MacBook Pro, wireless mouse and his wallet containing $400 cash and three credit cards, Wilson said.
He saw the robbers run out of the parking lot past the shopping center gates.
Then he walked through the mall and went to the security office.
He estimated the value of his stolen property was $5,774.
Wilson identified Francis as the taller robber who assaulted him and took his bag.
Police Detective Mark Hada of the Kihei Criminal Investigation Division said Francis has a 2016 conviction for second-degree assault in Honolulu.
Based on the conviction, Francis could face mandatory minimum sentencing as a repeat offender if he is convicted of second-degree robbery or second-degree theft, according to the complaint filed against him.
After testimony at the preliminary hearing, Judge Kirstin Hamman found there was probable cause to support the felony charges of second-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree theft, three counts of credit card theft and unauthorized possession of confidential personal information against Francis.
He is also charged with third-degree assault.
Francis was charged with unauthorized possession of confidential personal information after the Legislature changed the definition of confidential personal information to include credit card numbers, said Deputy Prosecutor Lewis Littlepage.
Defense attorney John Parker asked the judge to consider lowering Francis’ bail to $20,000.
Hamman maintained bail at $51,000, saying, “The court is concerned about the dangerousness of the allegations in this matter.”
Francis was ordered to have no contact with Wilson and to stay away from the Shops at Wailea parking lot.
He is set to be arraigned May 1 in 2nd Circuit Court.