Escaped psychiatric patient arrested in Stockton
STOCKTON » The search for an institutionalized psychiatric patient acquitted of murder who escaped from a Hawaii psychiatric hospital and flew to San Jose ended Wednesday after three days when authorities located him in the Central Valley.
But the man’s escape, and the fact that nearly half a day passed before authorities and the public were notified that he was on the loose, prompted wide calls for new investigations and hospital staffers being taken off the job.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office announced that 59-year-old Randall Saito was taken into custody around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at a gas station near Highway 99 and Waterloo Road. He had been seen in Stockton as early as Monday, and authorities said “an alert taxicab driver” provided the tip that led to Saito’s capture.
A clerk at the store connected to the gas station told reporters that Saito talked about heading to Reno. Honolulu police also got a tip that Saito was on his way to a brother’s home in Stockton and forwarded that information
to authorities in Northern California, Honolulu Sgt. Chris Kim said.
Saito was arrested on a $500,000 arrest warrant issued late Tuesday by the Hawaii Attorney General’s office, which charged Saito with felony escape.
“The Honolulu Police Department extends its thanks to the public and to the San Joaquin (County Sheriff’s Office) and all of the federal, state and local law enforcement agencies that assisted with the search and apprehension of Randall Saito,” that department
said in a statement released Wednesday.
In the aftermath of the escape, an unspecified number of employees at Hawaii State Hospital, which houses more than 300 patients in Kaneohe, will be placed on unpaid leave for 30 days, Hawaii Department of Health Director Virginia Pressler announced Wednesday. Pressler said an internal investigation indicates employees inadvertently or intentionally neglected proper notification of supervisors and proper supervision of Saito.
That finding was highlighted by the fact hospital staff called 911 to report Saito’s disappearance at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday — two hours after he arrived in San Jose and at least eight hours after disappeared. An all-points bulletin was issued at 8:30 p.m.
Pressler says the escape was a major breakdown of staff protocols. It has also revived criticisms about the hospital’s transparency.
“There is a serious lack of information for the public,” said Nicholas Iwamoto, who was stabbed 18 times on a popular Hawaii hiking trail in 2009.
Iwamoto’s attacker was found legally insane and sent to Hawaii State Hospital. He was later granted conditional release to attend community college, a decision about which Iwamoto wasn’t notified.
“Public safety has certainly been compromised,” Iwamoto said. “It’s extremely alarming. But nothing from the state surprises me anymore.”
Gov. David Ige said authorities and the public should have been notified sooner, and has directed the state attorney general to investigate.
Additionally, court records show Saito had relationships with three hospital staff members over the years. A 2010 evaluation by a psychiatrist says Saito had six significant relationships since he was committed. The assessment by Dr. Gene Altman said three of the relationships were reportedly with women in the community, including Saito’s first and second wives.
The evaluation said the other three were reportedly with hospital staff members. Altman said Saito can be personable and has good social skills.
Saito was the impetus for a rule change in 2003, when the state attorney general’s office decided mental patients committed to Hawaii State Hospital have no legal right to conjugal visits.
The issue came to light when the hospital administrator learned Saito had been escorted home for weekend conjugal visits over two years. The administrator blocked the visits away from the facility and on its grounds.
On Sunday, Saito, who was acquitted of a 1979 murder by reason of insanity, left the state hospital outside Honolulu around 10 a.m., took a taxi to a chartered plane that took him to the island of Maui, and then boarded another plane to San Jose, authorities said.
Saito was committed in 1981, two years after he was acquitted in the killing of Sandra Yamashiro. The victim was shot and repeatedly stabbed before her body was found in her car at a mall.
“He is a very dangerous individual,” said Wayne Tashima, a Honolulu prosecutor who argued in 2015 against Saito receiving passes to leave the hospital grounds without an escort.
Defense attorneys sought to have Saito released in 2000. But Jeff Albert, a deputy city prosecutor, objected, saying Saito “fills all the criteria of a classic serial killer.”
In 1993, a court denied Saito’s request for conditional release, saying he continued to suffer from sexual sadism and necrophilia.
Associated Press writers Audrey McAvoy and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher and Mercury News staff writer Robert Salonga contributed to this report.