LIHU‘E — The sound of three shotgun rounds rattled residents in an upper Wailua Homesteads neighborhood over a year ago. The man who fired those shots, Aldo Pironti, pleaded no contest last week to first-degree reckless endangering and fourth-degree criminal
LIHU‘E — The sound of three shotgun rounds rattled residents in an upper Wailua Homesteads neighborhood over a year ago.
The man who fired those shots, Aldo Pironti, pleaded no contest last week to first-degree reckless endangering and fourth-degree criminal property damage. He remains free on bail while awaiting sentencing.
Pironti faces up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine on the class C felony reckelss-endangering charge, and a risk of deportation if convicted, as he is not a U.S. citizen.
Sentencing, and a ruling on Pironti’s request for a deferred acceptance of no-contest plea, are scheduled for Oct. 20.
Sam Jajich, county deputy prosecuting attorney, before 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe said Pironti, 59, fired shots from a firearm that did damage to the truck and trailer of Steven Locey, a gardener for Connie Ruelas, who lives next door to Pironti on ‘Aina Lani Place.
In hand-written justification for temporary
restraining orders for Pironti to quit harassing them, both Ruelas and Locey said Pironti pointed the gun at their faces.
Fifth District Judge Trudy Senda granted both TROs, and there was no objection from Michael Soong, Pironti’s attorney, court records show.
Soong said in court Aug. 9 that Pironti is scheduled to have surgery so Soong may file a motion to move sentencing if need be.
The fact that Pironti remains free is disconcerting for those in his neighborhood, Lisa Pollak said. She wrote a letter to Prosecuting Attorney Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho and The Garden Island that Pironti is still a danger to a neighborhood with many young children.
“This man threatened his next-door neighbor over a gardener cutting hedges (that belong to her) on her own property on the other side of his solid rock wall,” Pollak wrote.
“He then pointed the gun at this 71-year-old grandmother in her front yard, turned and fired on the young gardener using racial slurs and hitting his truck three times with the bullets.
“I need to remind you that this happened in broad daylight about the time that my son and other small young children were walking home from school,” she said.
“To say that we were terrified is an understatement as it took the police about 15 to 20 minutes to arrive and arrest Mr. Pironti. They entered his home and removed the guns that they had told them about,” she said.
“Who will be his next target, a noisy neighbor, a car parked too close to his property, a child playing in the street?” Pollak wrote.
Ruelas in her TRO paperwork called Pironti “very dangerous,” adding that the March 2009 incident was “not the first time respondent has threatened me.”
The TROs against Pironti are in effect until April 6, 2012, court records show.
A third charge against Pironti, first-degree terroristic threatening, was dismissed with prejudice last week.
“I do not want to contest the charges against me,” Pironti said when Watanabe asked him why he was changing his plea from not guilty to no contest.
Watanabe explained the rights Pironti was “giving up” by changing his plea. She also ordered him to report to adult probation services immediately after the conclusion of the hearing, which he did, accompanied by Soong.
Soong said Monday that if the deferred acceptance of no contest plea is granted by Watanabe the no contest plea would be deferred for five years. If Pironti stays out of trouble during those five years, the charges would be dropped.
Soong also said there is always a chance for deportation after a felony conviction, but whether deportation proceedings are triggered involves several different scenarios.
• Paul C. Curtis, assistant editor and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.
