Mark Bertelson, who caused a lockdown at Kapa‘a Elementary School July 30, pleaded guilty Thursday and was sentenced to five years in prison. As part of a plea deal, Bertelson, 25, of Kapa‘a, who was facing 23 felony charges, pleaded
Mark Bertelson, who caused a lockdown at Kapa‘a Elementary School July 30, pleaded guilty Thursday and was sentenced to five years in prison.
As part of a plea deal, Bertelson, 25, of Kapa‘a, who was facing 23 felony charges, pleaded guilty to four felony charges of first-degree attempted assault of a law enforcement officer. He also pleaded guilty to reduced misdemeanor charges of second-degree terroristic threatening, abuse of family and household members, third-degree criminal property damage, and disorderly conduct.
Waiving a pre-sentence investigation, Bertelson was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Clifford L. Nakea to five years imprisonment.
“I’m sorry for my actions,” Bertelson said in a brief statement before being sentenced.
“The defendant messed up,” countered First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Craig De Costa. The incident “had many victims. (Police) demonstrated great restraint. Bertelson was fortunate they never discharged their firearms.”
After barricading himself in a Nunu Road home across from Kapa‘a Elementary school, Bertelson, who was armed with a knife, threw items such as pieces of porcelain, a radio and a ceramic vase at police officers. He then ran out of the home before being arrested on school grounds, De Costa said.
The incident closed roads in the Nunu Road-Kawaihau Road area, and a group of students had to be evacuated from a section of Kapa‘a Elementary School by Kaua‘i Police Department officers. Others were kept safe in classrooms.
According to police, Bertelson was the only person injured in the incident, and, according to reports, he cut himself.
In other Circuit Court news:
A motion to continue the trial of Dr. Jon Van Cleave, 55, a Kalaheo osteopath accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy in 2002, was granted yesterday.
Van Cleave, who was indicted on third-degree sexual assault charges in April, will be back in court on February 14 to be assigned a trial date.
The reason for the motion, Van Cleave’s lawyer, Michael Green said, was because of a federal trial he will begin in January, the previous trial date.
Van Cleave has pleaded not guilty to the charges and previously called the charges “bogus.”
Donald Kagawa was sentenced to one year in jail following a conviction on terroristic threatening charges.
Kagawa, 61, who’s homeless but spends most of his time in Lihu‘e, also received 30-day sentences for three counts of disorderly conduct. Those sentences were to run concurrently, at the same time, as the year-long sentence.
After two continuances in the past two weeks, including one on Tuesday where Kagawa showed up in court in short pants, an overcoat, with no shirt, and yelled and cursed at the victim and sheriffs, Kagawa was subdued and quiet before Judge Nakea.
Nakea suspended supervised release Tuesday and held Kagawa in lieu of $20,000 bail.
On Thursday, Kagawa’s lawyer, Karen Dennemeyer, said that Kagawa should be “given the same consideration” for treatment as others receive with substance abuse problems.
“I’m trying to clean (my record) all up,” Kagawa said.
De Costa said that Kagawa has a 30-page criminal history, most of that because of alcohol abuse.
“The defendant has been given” opportunity for treatment as part of supervised release; “instead, he’s been out there, abusing” alcohol.
“In actuality, five years in prison would be justifiable,” he added.
Kagawa was also ordered to pay $2,498.97 in restitution for victims’ medical expenses, to abstain from alcohol, and to stay away from the victim.
The offenses took place November 2002, but trial was delayed for so long because of numerous missed court dates by Kagawa, De Costa said.
Anthony Lopaka Michael, was sentenced to thirty days in jail after threatening a police officer who pulled him over for drunk-driving.
Michael, 20, of Koloa, also received five years probation, with condition including completion of an anger management program, abstaining from alcohol, 200 hours of community service and payment of court fees.
Michael entered his guilty pleas to the charges on July 22, for felony terroristic threatening and operating a vehicle under the influence of intoxicants.
De Costa said Michael was arrested May 13 after police saw his vehicle weaving within its lane and cross the center line five times.
When he was stopped, Michael yelled obscenities at the officer and threatened to do bodily injury to the officer, De Costa said. Michael’s breath alcohol content was .219, over two-and-a-half times the legal limit of .008.
A woman who stabbed her husband in a drunken stupor was sentenced to a six-month jail term, with a lesser sentence possible if she enters substance abuse treatment.
Angela Charlebois, 43, of Kapa‘a, also received a five-year term of probation for second-degree assault and first-degree terroristic threatening charges, for which she plead guilty in August.
If, after 45 days, Charlebois enters a residential treatment facility and completes the court’s requirements, she may be released, Nakea said.
“Steering the ship of marital bliss is difficult even in calm seas and with a sober crew,” Charlebois’ attorney Mark Zenger said. “It is impossible in a sea of alcohol pelted with a blizzard of cocaine.”
“She did not intend to stab him. She was afraid and desperate,” Zenger continued. “It was the stupidest thing she has ever done in her life.”
But her husband, Gerry Charlebois, said, “The only way justice will be done is to jail her.”
“Attacking me was a vicious intent to hurt me,” he added. It “has physically and emotionally devastated me.”
Charlebois sobbed while apologizing to her husband.
“I never want to touch alcohol again,” she added.
According to her lawyer, Charlebois was “a barfly frequenting East side” establishments.
After returning from a trip to the Mainland July 27, Charlebois could not find her husband. The next day, she turned to a Kapa‘a “watering hole,” to see if he was there, Zenger said.
There she met a friend who told her that Gerry Charlebois offered him their marital home “‘if you get rid of my wife,'” Zenger continued.
In his statement, Gerry Charlebois countered that “me hiring this guy was a fantasy made up by a criminal that’s her friend.”
“Her response to learning this information” was to drink, Zenger said. She drank some more, called her husband and threatened him, drank some more and went home. There she found her husband in bed.
“Her intention was to go home and sleep,” not expecting him to be in the house, Zenger continued.
She “grabbed a steak knife,” he said. “She did not intend to stab him. She wanted him to leave the marital residence.”
“His arm was underneath the pillow,” he added, and “she stabbed the pillow.”
The two have filed for divorce. After the proceedings, Gerry Charlebois’ lawyer, Teresa Tico, said, “He’s pleased. He feels she has to be incarcerated to send a message to the community that domestic violence will not be tolerated.”
Tom Finnegan, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681, ext. 252 or email tfinnegan@pulitzer.net
