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WAILUKU -- A homeless man is facing a robbery charge after testimony that he threatened to hit a cashier who confronted him about shoplifting.
Todd O'Neill, 37, is charged with second-degree robbery and fourth-degree theft in the incident reported at 2:19 a.m. July 6 at Aloha Island Mart at 50 Pakaula St. in Kahului.
Cashier Josephine Quenga said a man with a backpack entered the store and began dancing around.
"It was weird," she said during a preliminary hearing Friday for O'Neill in Wailuku District Court.
She identified O'Neill as the man she warned about knocking over items in the store before he left without paying for bottles of Pepsi and coconut water valued at $5.
"She chased after him," Deputy Prosecutor Joanne Sheng said. "He said to her three times, 'If you touch me, I'll hit you.' "Because O'Neill threatened the imminent use of force against Quenga, he was charged with robbery, Sheng said.
O'Neill wasn't arrested that night. He was charged with the robbery after being arrested for an unrelated offense July 11, said Detective Dennis Lee.
Testifying Friday, Lee said O'Neill reported being homeless and usually sleeping behind Kmart in Kahului. O'Neill told the detective he would get up at night and collect recyclables.
In the early-morning hours of July 6, O'Neill said he was pushing his shopping cart and saw police officers at Aloha Island Mart, Lee said.
After being told he was being arrested for the robbery, "he said we have the wrong person," Lee said.
O'Neill said he hadn't been to Aloha Island Mart since he was banned from the business eight months ago, Lee said.
The detective said surveillance video shows O'Neill, with a backpack strapped on, entering the store wearing a black T-shirt, shorts, athletic shoes and a dark-colored ball cap on backward a few minutes before the robbery was reported.
Under questioning by Deputy Public Defender Danielle Sears, Lee said he didn't see a tattoo on the leg of the man in the video.
Sears argued that O'Neill, who has three tattoos on his left calf, wasn't the robber shown in the video.
"The court isn't convinced about the mistaken identity," Judge Kelsey Kawano said. He found the state had shown probable cause for the robbery charge against O'Neill.
His bail was reduced to $1,100. He is scheduled to be arraigned July 25 in 2nd Circuit Court.
O'Neill also faces a third-degree assault charge for his arrest the morning of July 11.
A Lowe's employee reported O'Neill punched him in the face in the store's garden section after the employee intervened when he heard O'Neill yelling at two other employees, according to court records. After O'Neill punched the employee, another employee shoved O'Neill out of the store and closed the doors to the garden section, court records show.
* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.