Man found with multiple rifles sentenced to jail

As a felon he was not allowed to possess firearms

WAILUKU — A Molokai man who said he was running a hunting guide business when police seized five rifles from a garage was sentenced Wednesday to a five-month jail term as part of four years’ probation.

As a felon since 1995, Eugene Albino, 53, wasn’t allowed to possess firearms, 2nd Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo noted in imposing the sentence.

“With those firearms being within your reach, you’re definitely breaking the law,” she told Albino. “They should have been stored somewhere else.

“Once you’re a felon, you’re a felon. You can’t erase it.”

Albino had pleaded no contest to an amended charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Twelve other charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement recommending probation and no additional jail for Albino.

Police seized the rifles Oct. 1, 2019, when they went to serve Albino with an amended order for protection, Judge Loo noted.

“That’s when the officers saw the five rifles that were leaning against the corner of the garage,” she said. “They weren’t in cases, they weren’t put away. Three of them were loaded.”

Police also reported finding seven kinds of ammunition in the room, which Albino reportedly used as a bedroom or had access to.

“I thought I was obeying the law,” he said in court Wednesday.

Albino said he had moved out of the house, which was his wife’s, and had other guides handle gun hunts while he led bow hunts.

The seized rifles belonged to customers, Albino said.

He said one gun was from a friend who had asked if he could leave his grandfather’s rifle at the house. “I didn’t know was one stolen gun,” Albino said. “In hindsight, I was a little upset and frustrated. It is my fault because I gave him the permission to do that, and when I did that, I broke the law. “I’m very sorry for that.” Deputy Public Defender Tyler Stevenson said letters to the court reflected an “outpouring of support” for Albino from Molokai residents and his customers.

“He knows the terrain and wildlife on Molokai. He’s sought after to do guided hunts,” Stevenson said. “Molokai is one of the places where people dream about going to hunt for the different wildlife.

“His biggest mistake in this case is not storing the firearms properly,” Stevenson said.

He said Albino had allowed customers to stay at his wife’s house, where the firearms were found.

“He was really trying to do everything lawfully and to the best of his ability,” Stevenson said.

In sentencing Albino to the five-month jail term, Judge Loo said “that’s one month for each firearm.”

Albino was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

Court records show Albino was convicted of second-degree theft in 1995 in 2nd Circuit Court.

In 2005, he was sentenced to a 10-year federal prison term for cultivating thousands of marijuana plants in a secluded gulch on the north side of Molokai.

“I changed my life when I came home,” Albino said in court Wednesday.

Deputy Prosecutor Carson Tani said the state wasn’t asking to forfeit the guns because they don’t belong to Albino. He said the guns could be returned to the owners if they made claims for the firearms.