LIHU‘E — Christopher Bond, one of four people accused of stealing money from Lahaina Petroleum, pleaded guilty to first-degree theft on Monday before 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe. Under a plea agreement, several misdemeanor counts of falsifying a business record
LIHU‘E — Christopher Bond, one of four people accused of stealing money from Lahaina Petroleum, pleaded guilty to first-degree theft on Monday before 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe.
Under a plea agreement, several misdemeanor counts of falsifying a business record would be dropped. Bond, 24, is a former employee of Lahaina Petroleum, which operates several Chevron gas stations on Kaua‘i.
The judge said she would rule in February on a motion made by Bond’s attorney, Clayton Kimoto, for a deferred acceptance of guilty verdict.
Bond agreed to make nearly $33,000 in restitution to Lahaina Petroleum and be sentenced to probation instead of the possible 10 years in prison the felony theft charge carries as a maximum sentence.
He also agreed to testify against June Gaines, a Chevron gas station assistant manager whose jury trial on theft and falsifying business records charges is scheduled for Feb. 22 before Watanabe.
Gaines allegedly stole over $12,000 from her former employer, Kaua‘i Police Department investigators said in an earlier press release.
Asked by Watanabe why he changed his plea, Bond said, “I committed the offense.”
Bond, who served around 100 days in prison, completed The Salvation Army inpatient drug-treatment program and is now in the agency’s aftercare program.
In October 2009 he was arrested for and pleaded not guilty to a single count of first-degree theft and 43 counts of falsifying a business record.
During a KPD investigation of another theft case, allegedly perpetrated by Eric Bailey, 35, KPD investigators found evidence of probable cause leading to the arrest of Bond and Gail Vinhaca, another former Chevron station manager, and Gaines, an assistant manager, according to an earlier county press release.
Bailey allegedly stole over $23,000 in cash and falsified 104 business records. In December 2009, he pleaded guilty to two felony counts of theft and several counts of falsifying a business record, a misdemeanor.
Watanabe sentenced Bailey to a year in prison with credit for the 200-plus days he’d already served, plus five years probation, and ordered him to make restitution of over $21,000.
Vinhaca in a plea agreement in July pleaded guilty to first-degree theft and had her other charges dropped. She was sentenced by Watanabe to 10 years in prison with credit for time served, with a mandatory minimum of 40 months in prison.
Vinhaca was arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree theft and 270 counts of falsifying a business record. She was accused of stealing over $34,000.
County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Lauren McDowell represents the state in the Bond case.
Kaua‘i Police Assistant Chief Roy Asher, head of the KPD Investigative Services Bureau, acknowledged Det. Paul Applegate for the work he did on the cases.
“Paul recently completed the specialized training for white-collar investigations and he did an outstanding job on this investigation,” Asher said in an earlier release, adding that the department intends to continue to crack down on these types of financial-fraud complaints.
• Paul C. Curtis, assistant editor and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.
