Traveler gets 10 days jail for breaking quarantine rules

WAILUKU — One traveler was sentenced to a 10-day jail term and another man agreed to return to the Mainland after the two arrived on Maui on flights from Los Angeles without proper COVID-19 tests this week.

Anthony Mendoza, 31, pleaded guilty Thursday to violating emergency proclamation rules.

He arrived at Kahului Airport at about noon Wednesday. Although he had a negative COVID test, it wasn’t from a trusted state testing partner, said Deputy Prosecutor Rodney Char.

“The defendant also did not have a location to quarantine and refused to board a plane back to California,” Char said during a hearing for Mendoza in Wailuku District Court.

Judge Blaine Kobayashi followed a plea agreement between the prosecution and defense in sentencing Mendoza to the 10-day jail term, which is equivalent to the mandatory quarantine period for travelers without proper negative COVID-19 tests.

“The court takes violations of the law, especially the emergency proclamation rules, very seriously,” Kobayashi said.

“In case you’re under a rock, people are dying all over the

United States, all over the world, because of this pandemic,” Kobayashi told Mendoza. “In Hawaii, we protect our residents. When people like you come into the state and don’t follow the rules, you put everybody at risk.”

Mendoza said he came “with good intentions.”

“Good intentions are one thing,” Kobayashi said. “Following the law is an entirely different thing you need to do. We have these rules in place for a reason, and it’s to protect lives.”

Another traveler, Nicholas Wojtalewicz, 24, was arrested and charged with violating public health emergency rules after he arrived at Kahului Airport at 8:48 p.m. Tuesday and couldn’t provide a valid place of lodging to self-quarantine, according to police. He provided a negative COVID-19 test, but it wasn’t from a trusted partner, police said.

A court hearing for Wojtalewicz was delayed until Monday so he could try to make arrangements to fly home, said Deputy Public Defender David Pullman.

Both Wojtalewicz and Mendoza appeared for their court hearings by videoconference from the Maui Police Department.