Man on probation for ATV, trailer thefts last year from Puna shools charged in two new separate incidents

A 28-year-old Puna man on probation for stealing an all-terrain vehicle from one Puna high school and then about 3 months later thieving a trailer from a Puna charter school has been arrested and charged in connection with two new separate incidents.

This time it’s Puna incidents involving alleged vehicle theft as well as robbery and assault.

Hawai‘i County prosecutor’s office reports Ha‘aheo Chan of Mountain View is charged with:

• Second-degree robbery.
• First-degree theft (theft of a motor vehicle).
• First-degree unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle.
• First-degree unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle.
• Third-degree assault.

Second-degree robbery and first-degree theft — the most serious offenses with which Chan is charged — are Class B felonies, each punishable by a maximum 10 years in prison if convicted.

Chan made his initial appearance July 17 in Hilo District Court.

The court denied his request for supervised release and maintained his bail at $143,000. Chan was ordered to return at 2 p.m. July 21 to Hilo District Court for a preliminary hearing in the case.

Prosecutors notified the court they intend to seek a mandatory prison term, with no eligibility for probation, if Chan is found guilty as charged.

This is not the first time the 28-year-old Mountain View man has been accused, arrested, charged and/or pleaded in connection with incidents involving similar charges.

Chan was arrested and charged in August 2024 for stealing a John Deere all-terrain vehicle from Kea‘au High School.

He was out on supervised release after stealing the Kea‘au High ATV when he was arrested and charged in November 2024 for making off with a trailer Oct. 2, 2024, from Hawaiʻi Academy of Arts and Science Public Charter School campus in Pāhoa.

During the execution of a search warrant in a bedroom thought to be Chan’s at a Sandalwood Drive home in Pāhoa where the trailer was found Oct. 30, 2024, Hawai‘i Police Department officers also recovered a .22-caliber Jennings pistol, .22-caliber ammunition, 10-plus grams of methamphetamine and a glass smoking pipe, leading to additional drug and theft charges.

Online court documents show Chan pleaded no contest — a plea in which a defendant does not admit guilt but does not contest the charge — to all charges in those two incidents last year as part of plea deals with prosecutors in exchange for 4 years probation and paying restitution.

He was supposed to appear Aug. 22 in Hilo Circuit Court for a proof of compliance and restitution hearing.

Instead, as the prosecutor’s office reports, Chan was arrested and charged most recently — while on probation — in connection with two separate incidents July 13 in Puna.

One involved the alleged theft of a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon reported stolen from the parking lot of Sundari Gardens in Pāhoa.

The same day, the second incident involved the alleged robbery and unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle as well as a reported assault taking place on the shoulder of 37th Avenue in Orchidland Estates.

Hawai‘i Police Department Area I Crime Reduction Unit officers found and arrested Chan on July 16 at a Mountain View home.

A motion to revoke his probation and proposed motion for the revocation of his probation and resentence along with an application for an arrest warrant in connection with the cases from August and November last year were filed July 18 in Hilo Circuit Court by Hawai‘i County prosecutors.

Hawai‘i Police Department Puna Patrol Officer Dallas Arce initiated the most recent Puna robbery investigation while the July 13 motor vehicle theft investigation was initiated by Officer Jason Lin with Puna Patrol.

Hawai‘i Police Department Area I Criminal Investigation Section Detective Michael Matsumura led the July 13 felony investigation.

Deputy Hawai‘i County Prosecuting Attorneys Woodrow Pengelly and Patrick Muñoz are prosecuting the new case.