Church burglary suspect: ‘I came to get ice’

A 28-year-old Keaau man accused of breaking into New Hope-Hilo on Sunday told a pastor who found him in the church’s fellowship hall, “I came to get ice” — and then showed the clergyman an Igloo Playmate cooler full of ice cubes, according to court documents filed by police.

Pastor Benjamin Urbanozo told police he found the suspect, identified as Scott Conol-Pavao, at about 4:50 p.m. inside the building on the church’s Kupulau Road campus in Waiakea Uka, documents state. The pastor told police he noticed a hole above a door knob in the building’s rear door, a padlock to the church’s ice maker missing and a hinge damaged. He said the suspect, after confronted, rode off on a motorcycle.

Police found Conol-Pavao and the bike on Haihai Street, officers state, and Conol-Pavao told officers the bike — which didn’t have a license plate — was his, but he didn’t have documentation for it and the vehicle identification number was scraped off the bike’s front fork, according to documents.

Conol-Pavao was taken to the police station, where he was booked at 5:45 p.m., a log states. He and his property were searched, with a zip-lock baggie containing a small amount of black-tar heroin found in his right-front pocket and a used syringe discovered in a black backpack, which Conol-Pavao allegedly told officers he used to shoot heroin, according to documents.

He was charged with Tuesday with second-degree burglary, fourth-degree theft, fourth-degree property damage, third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, defacing vehicle serial number, riding motorcycle or scooter without license, marijuana possession, drug paraphernalia and driving without a license.

The burglary and promotion of a dangerous drug charges are both Class C felonies punishable by up to five years imprisonment upon conviction. Documents state Conol-Pavao has no prior felony convictions.

During Conol-Pavao’s initial court appearance Wednesday, Hilo District Judge Kanani Laubach maintained bail at $12,020 and ordered him to return for a preliminary hearing at 2 p.m. today.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
Source: Hawaii Tribune Herald