Missed opportunity

LIHU‘E — Romie F. Manzano missed a golden opportunity and was resentenced last week to five years in prison on theft, forgery and credit-card fraud charges that could have netted him substantially longer prison time.

Fifth Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano gave Manzano five-year terms, to run concurrently, on eight separate charges in two different cases. Manzano’s probation was scheduled to end next month.

In one case, Manzano, 29, of Kapa‘a, was charged with credit-card theft, credit-card fraud, unauthorized entry into a propelled vehicle, and second-, third- and fourth-degree theft.

In the other case, he was charged with 12 counts of second-degree forgery, second-degree theft and credit-card fraud.

In the first case, Valenciano sentenced Manzano to five-year prison terms for the second-degree theft and credit-card fraud charges. In the second case the judge gave Manzano five-year terms for five of the forgery counts and the theft charge.

Since Valenciano made the terms concurrent, or to run at the same time, that means the most time Manzano will be in prison is five years. Had Valenciano made the terms consecutive, Manzano could have been facing 40 years in prison.

Public Defender Edmund Acoba said Manzano’s crimes all resulted from his drug use, and that Acoba’s attempts to get Manzano into Kaua‘i Drug Court failed when his client was rejected by Kaua‘i Drug Court.

“I don’t know why he was rejected,” said Acoba, who added that he also tried to get Manzano admitted into Hina Mauka, a drug-treatment program.

“I thought being in drug court would be the best thing for him,” Acoba said.

Manzano was scheduled to have had his probation end Aug. 12. He was “so close,” Acoba said.

But Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Rosa Flores said Manzano squandered the opportunity given him by the court, adding that she was seeking five years in prison on the charges, to run concurrently.

Valenciano told Manzano he views probation as a chance to take advantage of a situation, “and you didn’t.”