Man on drug rampage admits stealing vehicles, even from MPD impound lot

Jakob Priest gets one-year jail term

WAILUKU -- A man who said he was high on drugs and living on the streets when he stole property and vehicles, including one from the Maui Police Department impound lot, was sentenced Wednesday to a one-year jail term.

"For someone with such a holy name, you sure weren't acting holier than thou," 2nd Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo told Jakob Priest. "The only holes that you were making were in other people's pockets and wallets."

She said Priest "ran amok" for five months, starting Jan. 22, 2018, when he stole a man's backpack and used his credit cards after the man had given Priest a ride from Kihei Kalama Village. Priest also got the keys to the man's 2013 Chevrolet Silverado work truck and stole the Maui Autoplex vehicle, failing to stop for a police officer.

Priest was implicated in an April 23, 2018, vehicle break-in at Keawakapu Beach in Kihei. A GoPro, camera and drone were missing from the back seat of the vehicle.

On May 7, Priest helped steal an impounded 2005 Toyota 4Runner from the bulk storage lot at the Wailuku Police Station. Two other men also were charged in the case, and Priest was paid with methamphetamine for his role in the crime, the complaint against him alleged.

Priest stole another vehicle, a Honda Civic, on May 25 from the Walmart parking lot, takings speakers and amplifiers from the car.

The same day, he entered the 76 gas station in Kahului and, while a clerk had fallen asleep in the back room, took cash from the register and cigarettes, Loo said.

In five criminal cases, Priest had pleaded no contest to two counts of unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, four counts of second-degree theft, second-degree resisting an order to stop a motor vehicle, tampering with physical evidence and third-degree theft.

"At the time, I was so high on drugs I didn't even think of it," Priest said in court Wednesday. "I truly am sorry to the people I hurt."

Defense attorney Mark Simonds said Priest, 20, has no prior felony convictions.

One of the worst decisions Priest made was to "pick up -- and that is to use methamphetamine and other substances, to run with a crowd that was heavily involved with that lifestyle," Simonds said.

He said Priest had applied to enter two long-term residential drug treatment programs. His long-term goal is to reunite with his family in Oregon, Simonds said.

He said Priest's family is supportive but didn't want to enable his self-destructive behavior by bailing him out of jail, where he has been incarcerated for about eight months.

Judge Loo noted that Priest had been doing well in Oregon, where he was working with his father and learning a trade. The family was on Maui for a vacation when Priest asked to stay while his parents returned home.

That led to Priest's homelessness, thievery and drug use, which "snowballed," Loo said.

"You want snowballs, you should have stayed in Oregon, not in Hawaii," she told Priest. "Look at all these people that you harmed. I'm sure you don't even know who these people are. You touched a lot of lives and you touched them negatively."

Priest was placed on four years' probation and was ordered to pay $1,267 in restitution and to perform 200 hours of community service.

He was ordered not to consume alcohol or illegal drugs and to write letters apologizing to the victims in his cases.

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.