Man, woman arrested for allegedly stealing Olympic weightlifter’s memorabilia
WAILUKU — A man and woman have been arrested for allegedly burglarizing a Wailuku residence and stealing Vernon Patao’s Olympic memorabilia and other belongings.
Rondon Demello, 24, of Kahului and Uilani Cornett, 27, of Kula are charged with first-degree burglary and second-degree theft.
The burglary and theft of Patao’s Olympic gold medals, certificates, tools and fishing rods and reels occurred between June 3 and 8, according to complaints filed against Demello and Cornett in 2nd Circuit Court.
Patao, a U.S. champion weightlifter who competed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, learned on June 8 that his Olympic memorabilia and his athletic certificates, along with fishing gear and tools, were stolen from a friend’s home in Wailuku where Patao had been storing them.
His tools and fishing gear were returned anonymously, but not his Olympic memorabilia, he told The Maui News in June.
Demello pleaded not guilty to burglary, theft and two counts of habitual property crime when he was arraigned Tuesday.
Cornett’s arraignment was delayed until Thursday.
She and Demello are being held in lieu of $10,000 bail each at the Maui Community Correctional Center.
Both Demello and Cornett could face mandatory minimum prison terms if convicted as charged, based on prior convictions, according to the complaints against them.
Demello was sentenced in July to five years in prison for second-degree theft and resentenced to five-year prison terms, to be served at the same time, for two counts of unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle in 2018 cases, according to court records. He was resentenced after being terminated from participation in the Maui Drug Court program of treatment and supervision, court records show.
Cornett was sentenced to four years’ probation in November 2020 for unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, theft of a credit card, unauthorized possession of confidential personal information, fraudulent use of a credit card and keeping an unloaded firearm in an improper place in a 2019 case, according to court records.
She was arrested last month for allegedly violating her probation in that case, police records show. In two pending cases, she has pleaded not guilty to three counts of unauthorized possession of confidential personal information, four counts of theft of a credit card, second-degree burglary and second-degree theft, according to court records.