LIHUE — A Kalaheo man pleaded no contest Monday to reduced charges in a deal with prosecutors to resolve six separate felony cases he picked up last year.
The litany of charges against Wally Kawahalau, 21, stem from a series of incidents that took place during a two and a half month period that began on July 28, when he stole the wheels off a car and burglarized an apartment in Kekaha, taking a wallet, a smart phone, tools and fishing equipment, according to court documents.
A few days later, prosecutors say Kawahalau trespassed on a neighbor’s property and took their car. He was charged with stealing another vehicle about a month later, and a few weeks after that, police say he burglarized a second apartment in Kekaha about a mile down the road from the first one he broke into.
This time, according to charging documents, Kawahalau stole a laptop, jewelry, a stereo, the driver’s licenses and passports of two women who lived there, a watch, a backpack, and other personal items. He was charged with another four felonies for the second burglary, plus a fifth count in the same case for possession of methamphetamine.
Prosecutors would add a 14th felony to the list of charges against Kawahalau a couple weeks later because they said he damaged a sprinkler in a holding cell at the courthouse while waiting to appear before the judge. By the time he was arraigned in mid October, Kawahalau faced charges that potentially could land him in jail for decades.
Prosecutors agreed to dismiss or reduce the majority those charges Monday, offering Kawahalau a plea bargain in which they recommended he be sentenced to four years probation and no more than one year in jail, although that term could be reduced to six months if he is accepted into a substance abuse treatment program.
Kawahalau will also have to pay restitution to the four victims in an amount to be determined later and stay at least 100 feet away from them, their homes and an auto shop in Hanapepe.
He is set to be sentenced in April by Fifth Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano, who did not sign off on the plea bargain and has the option to sentence Kawahalau to decades in jail based on the remaining charges, two of which are class B felonies that carry up to ten years in jail.
Kawahalau has no prior adult convictions or criminal record except for a case from 2018, when he was fined $250 for spray painting graffiti on the Eleele Shopping Center.
“This defendant’s choice of associates and modes of recreation led him to make some very bad choices,” Kauai County Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar said in an email Monday. “We are hopeful that by taking responsibility and accountability for his actions, he will be able to put the pieces back together. The first step in that process was the plea.”
